CONTENTS 




Chapter 1 — American Poultry, . . Pa 


ge 5 




2 — The Start, 


' 11 




3 — Which Variety, 


■ 16 




4 — The Poultry House, 


' 23 




5 — The Food Problem, 


' 32 




6 — Hatching, .... 


' 37 




7 — Brooding, ... 


' 41 




8 — Young Stock, 


' 45 




9 — Maturing the Stock, 


• 49 




1 — Diseases, .... 


' 54 




' 1 1— The Markets, ... 


' 61 




1 2 — The Show Room, 


' 66 




1 3 — Fancy Stock, 


' 69 




1 4 — Poultry Secrets, 


' 75 




1 5 — The Townsend Tests, 


' 86 


Copyright 1912 





POULTRY 
SECRETS 
REVEALED 



=BY= 



CHARLES F. TOWNSEND 

WEEDSPORT, NEW YORK 

President of the National Poul- 
try Association, recognized as an 
authority on all poultry subjects 



1911 

NATIONAL POULTRY MAGAZINE 

BUFFALO, N. Y. 






/ X 



FOREWORD. 



In this little book I shall talk to 
you, so far as possible, the same as I 
would do if you could drop into my 
office from time to time. I assume 
that you are a novice, a beginner, in 
poultry culture. Therefore if this 
book falls into the hands of an old 
breeder he will probably cry out that 
he finds very little that is new be- 
tween its covers. Well, what of it? 
I am not writing for Experience. I 
am writing for Inexperience. The 
old breeder can shift for himself. The 
beginner needs help. And so, if I 
save one lone reader from loss — from 
discouragement — / shall feel that I 
have not labored in vain, and that 
captious critics, if they appear, may 
all go hang! 

Fraternally yours, 

THE AUTHOR. 



£fl.A3091<«2 




Q.J.J. 



A^OW^. 



CHAPTER I 
AMERICAN POULTRY 

Poultry raising is the biggest business on earth. Government 
statistics — incomplete as they are — prove that the poultry industry 
of the world surpasses every manufacturing business. Cotton is no 
longer king. Beef, pork and mutton are left far in the rear. Wheat 
was passed long ago; and even "King Corn" will be found in second 
place when the poultry industry is properly tabulated. 

And this great industry is a profitable business, giving better 
returns for the money invested than any other line of legitimate 
trade. It has been proven over and again that the cost of producing 
poultry meat is no greater, pound for pound, than that of producing 
beef, pork or mutton. At the same time the market reports, month 
by month, show that the selling prices are overwhelmingly in favor 
of the poultryman. The live weight prices for the best grades of 
poultry run on the average from two to three times as much as the 
highest prices paid for the best grades of cattle, hogs or sheep; while 
in the lower grades the difference is still greater. 

In addition to the handsome profits made by growing fowls for 
market we find that the egg trade yields still greater results. If 
the average yearly cost of producing a dozen eggs is placed at 12y 2 
cents — which would probably be a reasonable estimate — and if under 
improved conditions and improved breeding the average pullet lays 
10 dozen eggs in a year which can be marketed at prices that will 
level up to 25 cents per dozen, the profit in commercial eggs is self 
evident. And under circumstances of which any live man may take 



6 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

advantage this profit may be largely increased. The demand for 
reliable fresh eggs is always ahead of the supply. There are many 
consumers who will gladly pay 50 cents per dozen on yearly contract 
for dependable eggs. Such customers must be sought; but once found 
they will stick, so long as the breeder does his part. 

Eggs for hatching pay still better, since one may obtain anything 
from fifty cents to fifty dollars per setting for such eggs. The tide 
of trade in this line begins flowing in February, reaches its flood in 
April and slowly ebbs until the end of June. The eggs for hatching 
trade can be made very profitable if one has good birds and a good 
business head. 

To be a successful poultryman — no matter what line one may 
follow — requires good judgment, and a capacity for hard work. You 
cannot learn to raise poultry by sitting at ease in your city home, 
even though you should "bite" at every "system" swindle or fraudulent 
mail order poultry "school." These "system" hawks and "school" rats 
prey upon the ignorant, the lazy and the credulous, who have been 
misled by big promises in flaming advertisements. 

The successful breeder has learned that the only school that can 
be depended on is the school of experience. The man who has gradu- 
ated from this school is equipped for success in the poultry business 
and will not be misled by advertisements of systems or instructions 
by mail on how to make money on poultry for a two cent stamp. 

As to location: your best location is where you are. The poultry 
business has this advantage — that there is no place in all this broad 
land where poultry and eggs will not yield handsomely. North, south, 
east and west, from Maine to California, and from the Yukon to the 
Gulf the poultryman is king. The cattle breeder is confined to the 
west and parts of the south; the pork raiser is largely limited to the 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 7 

central states; the sheep herder is equally restricted; but the poultry- 
man has the whole nation for a field. Of course one must breed in 
certain localities for certain markets. Thus the Boston market 
demands brown eggs — the browner the better. The New York market, 
with equal lack of reason, demands white shelled eggs. In catering 
to the first the so-called Mediterranean breeds would not be as profit- 
able as the so-called American or English varieties; while for the 
latter "Leghorn" eggs are most in demand. With these exceptions 
an egg is an egg, size and quality being the only points that count. 
Therefore start at home. 

The beginner is often puzzled to know whether it is best to start 
with birds, eggs or baby chicks. A very careful analysis of each shows 
that each has certain advantages and also certain disadvantages. If 
the beginner can invest say $75 for a trio and from $100 to $150 for a 
pen, that will be the best way for him to start. He can raise his own 
chicks and, by careful line breeding, can in due time establish his 
own strain. But under no circumstances should a start be made with 
cheap birds. Like begets like and cheap birds beget cheap birds. In 
buying a trio or pen, always go to a breeder of established reputation. 
The reason is obvious: the man who has been in business for many 
years, whose stock has won the blue at the leading shows, must 
necessarily know his business. More than that he must necessarily 
be a man of honor. The lesser breeder may, and often does, have 
excellent stock. And if his birds are of the line royal, the experienced 
buyer may find it advantageous to deal with him. But in such cases 
the beginner takes a chance which he would not do in buying from 
an old time breeder. 

If one cannot afford to buy first class adult birds, a very good way 
to start is by the purchase of a number of half grown chicks. Birds 
of good quality, six weeks of age and upwards, which have passed 
beyond the dangers of their baby days, may sometimes be purchased 



8 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

at a very reasonable price. Such birds of course have not been culled 
and the beginner should have an experienced breeder look them over 
when they have reached the age of six months and select those that 
are fit to retain. The remainder should be marketed at once. 

The most common method is to start with eggs. This is satisfactory 
provided certain precautions are taken. The first is to know that the 
eggs are from thoroughly matured stock. While some varieties 
mature earlier than others, yet as a rule it is unwise to breed from 
any bird under one year of age. Pullet eggs are usually smaller, 
weaker and less fertile than those laid by hens. Another precaution 
is against ordering eggs too early. In the mad rush for early hatched 
chicks, the beginner takes a long chance if he purchases eggs laid 
before the first of April. The big breeders, it is true, are able to get 
fertile eggs sometimes in February and frequently in March. Never- 
theless April and May are the best hatching months. And June is 
better than February. 

When buying eggs for hatching, the greatest danger lies in the 
handling they receive en route. Distance is not objectionable. In 
sending out eggs for hatching from our test pens we have had excel- 
lent returns all the way from Maine to California. Careful packing 
has had much to do with this; careful handling, over direct lines of 
communication, has had more. One should buy then, whenever possi- 
ble, from a breeder who can ship by a single express line so that no 
transfer to another company will be necessary. Eggs carry best when 
packed in strong baskets and safely cushioned on hay or excelsior; 
and the buyer should insist that his eggs should be packed in that 
manner. 

Generally speaking, the breeder should not be blamed if eggs fail 
to hatch. The buyer should know, and admit the fact, that in buying 
eggs for hatching he takes a chance. But the chance, however, is 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 9 

largely in his favor. This is particularly so when buying the higher 
priced eggs. Some prominent breeders get as high as four or five 
dollars each for eggs from their best pens. And high as this price is 
such eggs are really the cheapest in the end; because the chances 
are that any bird hatched from such eggs will be immensely valuable. 

It is customary to duplicate poor hatches at half price. But the 
buyer should learn the difference between an egg that is fertile and 
one that is not. Most beginners imagine that eggs which will rot 
during incubation are infertile; the fact is quite the contrary, for the 
rotten egg is almost invariably one in which the germ has started and 
died. This death of the germ is something for which the breeder is 
nowise responsible. It may be caused by rough handling, from 
alternate heating and chilling, from a faulty incubator, or from a 
faulty hen. One should not suppose that because a hen sits steadily 
she sits properly. A hen may stick to her job so closely that the 
eggs are not sufficiently aired. In such cases, and they are of frequent 
occurrence, the life-giving oxygen does not reach the egg in sufficient 
quantities and the germ dies. In using incubators faulty thermostats 
occasionally allow a wide variation in temperature; this is likely to 
prove fatal to the germ especially in the earlier stages. Therefore one 
should exercise common sense when making claims for infertility. 

The baby chick industry has some commendable features. The 
buyer is saved all worry over cranky hens or cranky incubators. He 
can count his chickens before they are hatched; and if he could raise 
all that he counts, his troubles would be nil. Unfortunately these little 
chicks are exposed to many dangers. Packed closely for shipping they 
are liable to suffer from chilling, over-heating, and for want of fresh 
air. Any of these causes will make them susceptible to disease, 
particularly to the deadly white diarrhoea. But if they escape all 
this and are properly cared for on their arrival, there is no reason 
why they should not do well. 



10 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

At certain times of the year, notably at the close of the hatching 
season, the beginner may often take advantage of bargain sales. The 
females purchased at such sales may not lay many eggs the following 
year; but if mated to a vigorous cockerel, the few eggs they do lay 
will be of high value. 

The beginner must needs expect discouragements. But he should 
remember that it is only in the school of adversity that one wins the 
highest honors. Poultry keeping is an honorable, healthful and profit- 
able business. Properly managed there is nothing that will yield 
better returns for the time and money invested. 



CHAPTER II 
THE START 

Well begun is half done; and this saying holds true nowhere 
more than in the poultry business. A bad beginning in poultry 
culture usually means a bad ending. The most common fault to be 
avoided is that of beginning on to large a scale. Better success with 
a trio, than failure with a thousand; and the man who begins with 
a thousand birds, or even with a hundred, if a tyro, almost invariably 
meets with failure. 

The reason why so many fail at the outset is that they begin 
with inflated ideas. They read the Munchausen tales told by irrespon- 
sible knaves, exploiting some fabulous "strain," and having no knowl- 
edge of the facts in the case, they fall easy victims. They read, and 
believe, the stories told by various "system" men describing in rosy 
colors how profits running from six dollars upward per hen can be 
made by wholly inexperienced people; they pay their hard-earned 
money to alleged poultry "schools" for the purpose of learning by 
mail, in their city homes, "how to conduct a large poultry plant"; 
they figure, unwisely, that if a single hen pays yearly a legitimate 
profit of even $1.50, a thousand hens will pay correspondingly. All 
these things lead to failure. There is no royal road to success in 
poultry culture. The way to learn to raise poultry is to raise poultry, 
and by that is meant from small beginnings. Do not start with the 
idea of making a fortune immediately. Mr. U. R. Fishel, whose stand- 
ing today financially is of the highest, started with a dozen birds. He 
"felt his way," treated his customers right, and grew as his business 



12 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

grew. Lester Tompkins, the noted breeder of Rhode Island Reds, 
Sam. Noftzger, the originator of the beautiful and useful Partridge 
Plymouth Rocks, and in fact almost every noted breeder began growing 
poultry along the same lines. The wise tyro, therefore should follow 
their example. 

One of the most common questions put to an expert is "How much 
capital do I need for a start." The next is "Where should I locate?" 
The first is answered by saying: "Whatever amount you can afford, 
bearing in mind the stipulation of starting small"; to illustrate: A 
beginner wrote me that he had $75 to invest in birds and asked how 
many I could send him for the money. I told him that I would send 
him a trio of thorough-bred stock equal to any that he could purchase 
anywhere in the country. I then went on to explain that 
with this trio he would get started on a sure foundation, 
and that another year he could have a good sized flock of first class 
birds instead of a large flock of culls, he immediately saw a light. 
Had he invested his money at the outset in dollar birds, his "strain" 
would have been dollar birds to the end of the chapter. On the other 
hand, by starting with three birds of exceptional value, and by careful 
culling, in three years' time he had a flock of birds that placed him 
among the money makers. 

I am writing this book for the beginner. The novice should be 
told the plain, blunt truth. He should have facts, not fancies. Many 
arrant humbugs and some downright swindlers have crept into the 
poultry business, and the brassy claims made by these harpies have 
led many people to invest beyond their means by arousing hopes 
impossible to realize. We shall publish facts so that the beginner 
may start with his eyes open. 

Poultry raising is healthful and profitable. It takes one out of 
doors, keeps brain and body busy, and if properly managed gives 
better returns, dollar for dollar, than any other business. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 13 

The "back yard" breeder can make a living — and a good living 
from bis birds. He won't make thousands of dollars yearly on a few 
square feet of land, as one notorious faker claimed to have done, 
unless, like that unsavory person, he pitches Truth overboard and, 
through misleading advertisements, beguiles the credulous into paying 
enormous prices for third-rate stock and eggs. 

But there is a multitude of breeders today who are making 
plenty of money, and making it legitimately, in city and village. 
And the secret of this is to breed intensively, from first class stock 
of a single variety. Such breeders may not raise many birds, but 
they can raise good ones and get good prices; and as their expenses 
are low their profits will be high. 

But town lot breeding is not easy work. To properly care for 
two hundred birds under such conditions requires more downright 
labor than would the care of a thousand on free range. 

Birds in constant confinement must have constant attention. 
Green food, animal food, grit, lime, charcoal, dust baths and pure, 
fresh water must be supplied. Houses must be kept clean, snug and 
dry. Vermin must be held in check. On free range much of this 
labor and expense is unnecessary. 

But remember: Fowls on free range never pay as much per head 
as they do in confinement. The reason is that free range birds are 
often left to hustle for themselves; and while they may be healthy 
and vigorous they do not make as quick growth nor lay as many eggs 
as restricted birds. 

Under absolutely "natural" conditions no hen would lay except 
for reproduction. The native jungle fowl lays fewer eggs in a year 
than a well-bred pullet lays in a single month. The "200 egg" hen is 



14 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

common in small flocks, even though she is not — and probably never 
will be — a commercial fact. 

The town lot breeder can, and usually does, know his birds indi- 
vidually. Thus he can mate properly — as will be described later on — 
and from his small flock produce a high percentage of first class birds. 
Selecting some popular variety, and breeding only for the fancy, a 
good living can be made on a half acre. 

The average farm flock is a nightmare — a jumbled mess of mon- 
grels. A majority of farmers still think that poultry is something 
for the "women folks" to "fuss with" but of no real importance. This 
is a great mistake. It is safe to say that there is not a farm of 
ordinary size where general crops are grown, that, properly managed, 
would not pay far better with poultry than with anything else. The 
town breeder must buy everything for his birds. The farmer can 
raise everything — or an equivalent. If he has the ability he can breed 
both fancy and market poultry, and thus make money at both ends 
of the business. There are very few places where poultry and eggs 
fail to find a ready market at good prices; and fancy poultry is bred 
all the way from Maine to California. 

On the farm the birds should not be cooped or penned to keep 
them out of the garden. No. Fence in the garden and let the birds 
run free. Neither should they be made feathered tramps, roosting 
under sheds, in barns or out-buildings. Nor should they be allowed 
to loaf about the kitchen door looking for table scraps. Even that 
alleged breeder, who pretended to have made |3,600 in one season 
from 30 hens, by feeding them on table scraps, did not allow them to 
befoul his kitchen steps. His mythical "feeding" was done at a dis- 
tance. 

The farmer should adopt the extensive or colony system. Therein 
lies the secret of success with farm poultry. Colony houses large 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 15 

enough for forty or perhaps fifty chicks can be built at trifling cost, 
or purchased, ready to put together, for a few dollars. I use the 
Buckeye colony houses because they last for years and cost less than 
I could build them. While allowing a good out door run they keep 
the little chicks warm, dry and comfortable, and when they are large 
enough to look out for themselves these buildings make admirable 
roosting houses. 

With the colony system a large number of chicks may be cared 
for without much labor. They may be hopper fed and watered from a 
barrel so will need but little attention. The farmer, therefore, can 
raise hundreds while the town breeder raises dozens. 

Commercial breeding, so called, is merely specializing. Generally 
this runs into "egg farms," with "broilers on the side." There are 
many of these great "farms" in the vicinity of New York, Philadelphia 
and Boston; and on the Pacific Coast, in California, there are others 
equally great. 

These big commercial plants are money makers — sometimes. 
When managed on broad lines, by men who are big enough for big 
things, they pay well. The secret of success with twenty thousand 
hens is the secret of success in any other big enterprise. The ability 
to place, organize and conduct such an extensive business is unusual, 
demanding, as it does, qualities that only the few possess. 

Fancy breeding, as the word suggests, is the breeding of orna- 
mental or toy birds. There are enough buyers to make this branch 
of the business fairly profitable. Indeed there are bantam breeders 
who make a great deal of money every year. And there is a fair 
demand at all times for the Polish in all its varieties, together with 
the Frizzles, Silkies, Sultans and other "odds and ends." 

The secret of success with these bizarre birds is to breed to the 
Standard — and advertise. 



CHAPTER III 
WHICH VARIETY? 

The beginner constantly asks the question: "Which is the best 
breed?" And the oft repeated answer is: "There is no best breed." 
Naturally some breeds are better than others. No matter how 
beautiful a variety may be, unless it possesses practical qualities, it 
is only a toy of no use save to the dyed-in-the-wool fancier. The 
Polish, the Hamburgs, the Silkies, the Sultans, Frizzles, and Bantams 
are all of this class. Among them are many odd and beautiful birds 
but none of them are suitable for the man who goes in for meat 
or eggs. The "meat" breeds, including birds raised for capons, can 
be bred successfully only where food products are available at the 
lowest market prices. These varieties include such massive birds as 
the Cochins, Brahmas and Langshans. They are large of frame, 
slow in growth, and require far more food to reach a market age than 
do any other breeds; but where food products are cheap they can be 
grown successfully and will pay great profits. Where eggs, and 
especially white eggs are required, the Leghorn naturally holds first 
place. These birds grow rapidly, mature quickly, and if care is 
taken to secure a good laying strain, they are, under such conditions, 
the best fowls for the white-egg farmer. 

The well deserved popularity of the American and English breeds 
rests upon their general utility qualities. The Plymouth Rocks, 
Rhode Island Reds, and Orpingtons, and to a lesser extent the Wyan- 
dottes, are really general purpose fowls. The fact that the Wyan- 
dottes, with some notable exceptions, generally lay smaller eggs than 
either of the other varieties, and that they run smaller in size, has 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 17 

served to lessen their popularity with the practical poultryman. As 
broilers, however, the Wyandottes fill every requirement; and when 
properly bred they are very satisfactory egg producers. The beginner, 
however, will find that the white variety will give the best satisfac- 
tion as a layer — owing to the fact that the comparative ease of 
breeding to standard requirements has enabled the admirers of this 
variety to give more attention to utility points than has been possible 
with other Wyandottes. 

The Rhode Island Reds, both Single and Rose Comb, are im- 
mensely popular, both with the fancier and the market poultryman. 
The difficulty of breeding this variety to the Standard gives the 
fancier an opportunity to extend himself to the limit. And it has 
been a fortunate thing that the Rhode Island Reds have been in the 
hands of practical men to such an extent that the standard tinkers 
have been unable to ruin this breed. The consequence is that the 
Reds have retained their utility qualities along with their popularity 
in the show room. They are docile, bear confinement well, lay large, 
brown eggs, mature early and are exceedingly popular as market 
birds. As layers, they rank high. In the tests for laying they have 
been among the leaders. As fancy birds they bring high prices, rank- 
ing with the Plymouth Rocks and Orpingtons. The beginner, if he 
takes care to buy his stock or eggs from men who are dependable, 
will make no mistake in taking up this breed. 

The English Orpingtons are strictly first class birds. Massive in 
size, stately in style, these birds are among the aristocrats of the 
feathered world. Rapid in growth, maturing early, laying good sized, 
tinted eggs, and plenty of them, their popularity in England, and their 
growing popularity in America, is easily understood. And despite their 
handicap in being touted by some of the worst fakers in the business 
they still are winning a commanding position because of their intrinsic 



18 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

merits. There are three standard varieties — the White, Buff and 
Black. There is no difference in the meat or egg value of either 
variety; although the lingering American idiocy against dark legs 
in chickens — though there is none in turkeys — has prevented the 
Blacks from having the vogue of the Whites and Buffs. This absurdity 
is rapidly disappearing and therefore the Black variety is growing in 
favor daily. It is one of the best of all varieties, especially for the 
town fancier. 

In starting with Orpingtons, especially the White variety, one 
should exercise much caution. The American standard differs 
materially from the English. The latter, very properly, puts type 
above all else. An English judge will award first prize to a bird that 
may be bad in comb, legs and eyes, provided it is strong in type. An 
American judge is too apt to consider these minor points; and as a 
result the blue ribbon is too often awarded birds that are Orpingtons 
in name only. This fault must be and will be corrected; therefore 
the beginner with Orpingtons should buy his stock or eggs from men 
who breed to the English type — like William Cook and Sons, the 
originators of all the Orpingtons. 

The Plymouth Rock is the American bird par excellence. Large, 
lusty, quick growing, early maturing, equally at home in pen or on 
range, a great layer of big eggs, unsurpassed as a market bird, this 
active breed is typical of American snap and go. There are many 
varieties of the Plymouth Rocks, each of which has its ardent 
admirers. The old reliable Barred variety is a business bird, wonder- 
fully popular with the farmers of America, and equally popular in the 
show room. Its only objection in the eyes of the small breeder, is 
the fact that double mating is necessary in order to produce males 
and females of the same shade of color. The males naturally run 
light, the females dark. It is necessary therefore, as a rule, to breed 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 19 

from dark birds in order to produce dark males, and from light birds, 
especially from a light male, in order to produce females of standard 
color. This prevents many small breeders, who lack the necessary 
room, from handling this variety; but the market breeder, who cares 
nothing for fancy points, finds in the Barred Rock a variety that suits 
him from the ground up. 

The Buff, Columbian and Penciled varieties are all excellent, 
but none of them has achieved the popularity of the others. 

The White Rocks, thanks to men like Fishel, Graves and Owen, 
backed by their own intrinsic good qualities, have a world-wide popu- 
larity. They are phenomenal layers, grow to a large size, and are 
among the most popular of all market breeds. As egg producers 
their remarkable freedom from broodiness places them among the 
leaders. Our official tests showed that four exhibition White Rocks 
laid 861 eggs in one year — an average of 215 each. And in three 
years' tests, which included "a large number of birds, no ''broody" 
was ever seen. The White Rocks breed white and stay white. Storm 
or sunshine has no effect on their plumage. We have had birds of 
this variety reach an age of four years and moult out to a snowy 
whiteness. The beginner will make no mistake in taking up the 
White Rocks. 

The latest edition of the Rock family and one that is apparently 
destined to become the most popular of all, is the new beauty breed, 
the Partridge Plymouth Rocks. As is usually the case, when anything 
of especial merit is produced, there are several who claim to have 
originated this wonderful variety. But careful investigation shows 
that the honor clearly belongs to Samuel A. Noftzger, of North Man- 
chester, Ind. His strain appears to be the only one containing no 
Partridge Wyandotte blood. 



20 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

The Partridge Plymouth Rocks possess many qualities held by no 
other breed or variety. Our official trap nest records show that they 
have outlaid all others thus far tested. A pen of six birds laid the 
astounding number of 1,321 eggs in a single year, an average of 220 
each. Their eggs are uniformly large and very even in shape and 
color. This fact alone makes them particularly valuable to the egg 
farmer because of the labor saved in sorting for the market. They 
are easily broken up if they become broody, a couple of days confine- 
ment usually being sufficient; while if allowed to sit, they make the 
best of mothers. Their plumage is remarkably beautiful, a combina- 
tion in the male, of lustrous greenish black, bright red and mahogany 
brown; in the female the color is a beautiful blending of mahogany, 
soft brown and black and both male and female are produced by 
single matings. Therefore the amateur and professional will find 
that the Partridge Plymouth Rock is not only a bird of beauty but 
one of the greatest money makers in poultrydom. 

The remaining standard American breeds — Buckeyes, Dominiques 
and Javas — are birds of quality. The first has been rather unjustly 
called a "mahogany bay" imitation of the Rhode Island Red. As the 
Buckeyes differ from the Reds in size, weight and color they should 
be judged on their own merits. 

The Dominique is a grand old breed and deserves far more 
attention than it receives. Lighter in weight and easier to breed to 
color than the Barred Rocks; early maturing and exceptionally good 
as a layer; free from the incubus of double mating — the beginner 
would find this an excellent variety. 

The Java, both Black and Mottled, has become thoroughly 
Americanized. A large, vigorous breed, sadly neglected. The foolish 
prejudice against dark shanks and the "booming" of new breeds is 
responsible for this, since the Java is an excellent variety, both for 
eggs and market. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 21 

The Dorkings, Minorcas and many other varieties are worth 
"taking up" and there is a chance for the right man to make a fortune 
with any of them. 

Ducks, geese and turkeys occupy separate and distinct fields in 
poultry culture. As they differ entirely from the gallinaceous fowls 
it would be impossible to handle them in a book of this sort without 
extending it far beyond the prescribed limits. Therefore I will pass 
the subject for the present, merely saying that under proper condi- 
tions either of the three classes can be made to yield handsome 
returns for the money invested. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE POULTRY HOUSE 

One of the secrets of successful poultry culture is that of proper 
housing. It is probable that as many failures have resulted from lack 
of knowledge along this line as from any other cause, as large sums 
of money have been wasted on expensive but improperly built houses. 
In trying to make the birds comfortable they have been made uncom- 
fortable. Double walls, elaborate ventilators and heating systems have 
added to the cost only to the detriment of the birds. 

There are but four requirements in a well built poultry house — a 
tight roof, a dry floor, freedom from draughts and proper openings 
for the air and sunshine. The house should be cool in summer and 
warm enough in winter so that the birds will not actually suffer from 
the cold. The house need not be costly, but it should be substantial. 
If the roof is covered with a good material, if the walls are lined with 
fairly heavy weight tarred paper, if the floor is built of solid concrete 
to keep out the vermin, and covered with plenty of clean straw for 
scratching, and if ventilator windows are supplied, of the style 
described in this book, and if the fowls are not overcrowded, there 
will be freedom from sickness, and the birds will be happy and con- 
tented. Under such circumstances they will do well and pay well. 

The style and size of the house depends wholly upon circum- 
stances. First let us consider the house that is used more than any 
other. 



24 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

The Town Lot House. 

Thousands of "back yard breeders" are housing their birds im- 
properly and wondering why their chickens don't pay. In nearly 
every case the houses are unsanitary, and that, alone, is enough to 
condemn them. 

In many cases the so-called "houses" are either spaces penned 
off in dark and drafty barns, or else they are some freak "system" 
coops, made of pine sticks and muslin, and sold to the inexperienced, 
at outrageous prices. 

The barn "house" is bad. The 3 by 6 "system" coop is worse. 
In the former the birds lack sunshine — which means a loss of health 
and vigor. In the latter — working wholly out of doors — for these 
"houses" are merely cheap boxes — the birds are certain to be neglected 
in bad weather. In driving storms of snow or rain it would take more 
than Spartan fortitude to care for even one of these unhappy pens. 

For a few birds on a city or village lot the "No- Yard" house is 
probably the best. Careful tests have been made of several varieties 
of these houses, and we found that the Buckeye house was very satis- 
factory. An abundance of fresh air without drafts, easy to clean — we 
found it an excellent building for a dozen birds. 

The Sectional Laying House, made by the same company, was 
also tested with good results. By changing the windows to the inside 
— a very easy job — we turned them into the Tanner Ventilators used 
in all our houses. This method of ventilation is absolutely perfect. 
The foul air is forced out and pure air is drawn in, while no draft is 
apparent in any part of the building. The buildings are thus made 
cool in summer and warm in winter. Moreover the houses are abso- 
lutely damp proof — a matter of great importance. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 25 

The Secret of Dry Cement Floors. 
Cement makes the best flooring. It is better than dirt because it 
can be kept clean and is vermin proof. It is better than wood because 
it is far cheaper, absorbs no filth and is permanent. But it has had 
the objectionable feature of being damp — and dampness is not con- 
ducive to good health. Many methods have been tried to overcome 
this dampness. All have been faulty in one way or another, at least, 
for poultry houses. After various experiments the problem has been 
solved. In the Townsend Model House — using a combination of the 
Buckeye sectional houses — the foundation walls and floors are made 
of cement and are absolutely damp proof. The secret of this con- 
struction is very simple, and the cost is trifling. It is accomplished 
by mixing six pounds of hydrated lime with each hundred pounds of 
cement. And this need not be used in the bottom course. Our method 
is to put down about two inches of five parts rough gravel and one 
part of Edison cement. Make this very wet, tamp well, and follow at 
once with a second course laid. from a half-inch to an inch in thickness 
— three parts of sand or fine gravel to one of cement with the hydrated 
lime as stated; and dampness is unknown. The house rests on walls 
six inches thick and carried about a foot below the surface. The 
building is not only damp proof but vermin proof as well. 

The beginner will hardly undertake the erection of buildings for a 
large commercial plant. Such buildings include laying houses, incu- 
bator and brooding houses, breeding and colony houses ; and their man- 
agement is utterly impossible for the tyro. Make no mistake about 
this. One of the secrets of successful poultry culture is based upon 
the common sense idea of making haste slowly. No sensible man 
would try to build a mansion until he had learned to cut a rafter. No 
sensible man would try to "manage a large poultry plant," as one 
"teach-you-by-mail" concern promises, until after a long experience 

with more or less insane incubators and more than less hysterical 
hens. 



26 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

Let us next consider a house that is used by tens of thousands, 
of which not one per cent, is used properly. 

The Farm Poultry House. 

Any farmer can make money with his poultry. Every farmer 
should do so. And of the several reasons why they do not, the first is 
that the birds are improperly housed. 

It may be well enough to allow the young stock to roost in the 
trees during the late summer months and early fall. But by October 
the birds should be provided with proper quarters and taught to 

occupy them. 

• 

The average farmer neither knows nor cares anything about the 
fancy. If he takes any interest in the subject — which he rarely does, 
not knowing that poultry might pay better than all his crops com- 
bined — but if interested at all, he merely wants birds that will give 
him both eggs and meat. Usually his stock is a mess of mongrels. 
His hens "steal their nests" and vermin steal the chicks. He matures 
a tenth of what he might do. These find shelter as best they can — in 
barns, under sheds — anywhere and everywhere, except where they 
should be. Hardy? Of course. The few that survive must be hardy. 
They are generally light in weight and their egg yield is lighter — the 
price paid for such "hardiness." 

The farm poultry house may be built at very little expense. A 
south or east side of a barn or other outbuilding makes an excellent 
location provided of course that the ground is high and dry. Let the 
house have a front slope, place the roosts at the rear, on a level, with 
nests at the side. Be sure that the roof is tight and have a door at 
the high side with one or more windows in the low front. A building 
14 feet deep by 14 feet wide will accommodate about 40 birds; and any 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 27 

farmer who can saw a board and drive a nail can erect such a house 
at a cost of less than $40. This makes a good house at little cost 
wherein the birds may have proper shelter during the long winter. 

The Fancier's House. 

The man who breeds for "points," — who goes in for exhibition 
birds — should plan his house accordingly. Breeding stock requires 
special handling. One of the secrets in producing good show birds 
is to keep the breeding stock in tip top condition at all times; and a 
proper house is one of the first essentials. 

Breeding pens that are expected to throw fancy stock are usually 
of small size — from six to eight females — so that less house room is 
needed. As the breeders must be under daily observation, to be sure 
that each female "nicks in" with the male; as trap nests are abso- 
lutely necessary; as the birds, in short, demand unusual attention 
during the breeding period, the "long" or continuous house is best 
if one breeds at all extensively. A yard of strong turf, with a shel- 
tered, southern exposure, is an absolute necessity if early chicks are 
wanted. For the breeder who expects to get even a fair percentage 
of March chicks must have his birds on the turf during the winter 
whenever a bit of green shows. This is a breeder's secret and is well 
worth remembering. 

The Townsend House. 

After much study, and many consultations with our Mr. J. S. 
Tanner, of the Advisory Board, who is one of the best working archi- 
tects in America, I have planned and built the model house described 
herewith. This is a new house for some of the tests which I am 
conducting in the interests of the National Poultry Association. In 
planning it I had several objects in view. Among them were the 
following: 



















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POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 29 

Perfect sanitation, to insure good health. 

Thorough ventilation, without drafts, in all weather. 

An absolutely dry floor, and one easily cleaned. 

A house that should be rat, bat, cat, mouse and mite proof. 

Cool in summer and fairly warm in winter. 

A "one man" house where a single helper could do all the work in 
a short time. This demanded automatic watering, feeding, ease of 
cleaning and rapidity in gathering eggs from scores of trap nests, 
making, at the same time, the necessary records. 

A convenient, dry and vermin proof feed room. 

This was something of a contract, but, it has been successfully 
carried out. 

The fixtures and appliances used in any poultry house will depend 
upon the owner's taste — and pocketbook. The only vital necessities 
are sanitary fountains or other easily cleaned receptacles for water; 
boxes for grit, oyster shells, charcoal and beef scraps; fairly low 
perches; fairly dark nests, a dust bath, and dropping boards that may 
be cleaned easily. Given these, with plenty of scratching litter and 
the hen that will not be a hustling, laying, paying bird is fit only for 
the market. 

Main house, 22 x 30. Feed room, 12 x 16. "P" is passage way. "A," 
pens, clear, 6x9. "D," trap nests. "B," bins. "W," windows. Doors 
as indicated. "F," feed troughs for dry mash, etc. "PR," Sanitary 
Perches. 

This house is 22 x 30 over all, the feed room being 9 x 16. The 
entire building rests on 6 inch concrete walls and the floor is of 
concrete, two inches thick with a half inch top. There is a four-foot 
alley-way 30 feet long through the main house. Trap nests are con- 



30 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

veniently placed, and under the nests is a clear space allowing fowls 
that much extra scratching room. Each pen is furnished with a Nor- 
wich Automatic Feeder which allows the birds to feed themselves and 
at the same time gives plenty of exercise. Each pen has 54 square feet 
and as the dropping boards are wide enough for double roosts each 
pen will hold from 8 to 12 birds. The partitions are solid matched pine, 
extending to the roof. In each pen there is a four light window, each 
pane being 12 x 16. This allows 5 1-3 square feet of glass to each pen. 
In the monitor top are swinging windows having three 9 x 12 panes in 
each. These windows swing out and are regulated from the passage 
way. The house, therefore is well lighted. 

The pen windows are supplied with the Tanner ventilator method, 
a simple, yet effective way for admitting fresh air at all seasons with- 
out drafts, and for carrying off the foul air. The windows are 
arranged as follows: On each side of the opening, fitting closely to 
the sash, is nailed a three-cornered board, the length being the same 
as the sash, and the broad end, at the top, being from 8 to 12 inches 
wide. The sash is placed between these boards, the bottom resting 
on the window sill and the top against a stick nailed to the side 
boards near the top. A double current of air is thus set in motion, and 
the building is always supplied with fresh air. The entire window may 
be lifted out if necessary, or closed tight in zero weather, being then 
held in place by a cupboard catch. A strong screen on the outside 
of the opening keeps out intruders. 

The house is eight feet above the walls at the highest point, and 
four feet at the lowest — the wall being nine inches above the floor. 

The watering is automatic, the water being conveyed from an 
air pressure tank so that the pans are always full of clean water. In 
the summer they can be flushed as often as desired. In the winter 
they can be automatically emptied at night to escape any danger from 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 31 

freezing. The house is cool in the summer, however, as with the wire- 
protected doors and windows wide open, there is a constant circulation 
of air. The house is relatively warm in winter because there is no 
dead, damp air to chill the birds. 

The old fashioned and unsanitary dropping boards are not used 
in this house. The night droppings fall into the litter and as this is 
changed weekly there is no odor. 

The house was built by taking ten of the sectional houses made 
by the Buckeye Incubator Co., of Springfield, Ohio, and putting them 
into position facing each other — five on a side. The fronts were 
held in reserve. The high sides faced at a distance of six feet, the 
partitions resting on boards nine inches wide. An additional roof was 
built, carrying it up so as to allow for the "Monitor" top. The fronts 
were utilized, so there was no waste of lumber. This made a first 
class house at far less cost than had we bought the lumber and built 
outright. And if one uses but- two houses it is equally available. 



CHAPTER V 

THE FOOD PROBLEM 

We may buy the best eggs in the world. We may get from them 
chicks that are marvels in health and vigor; but unless they are fed 
right, these chicks will never be anything but culls. 

We may buy mature birds of the best quality; we may give them 
ideal quarters; but unless we feed them right they will not lay well 
nor throw good stock. 

The secret of proper feeding has been well kept. The real 
breeders will usually tell you what they feed — in a general way; but 
they do not give you the essential facts. The fake breeder, who sells 
eggs from a fake "strain" may tell you of feeding 30 hens on scraps 
from his table; and a "system" man may tell of "feed" at a few cents 
per bushel. You cannot copy the legitimate breeder for you don't 
know the particulars; and no man of sense will have anything to do 
with the other sort. 

The secret of proper feeding cannot be told in a sentence. There 
is too much of it. 

The beginner may be told what to feed his chicks. Possibly it 
will be right; probably it will be wrong. The proper food for the 
Mediterraneans won't do at all for the Asiatics; and something still 
different is required for the American and English varieties. 

But in the beginning of things, the knowing breeder feeds for 
chicks long before the eggs are laid from which those chicks are 
hatched! 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 33 

Clinch that fact. 

Now let us go into details. 

It is the first of January. Your birds are properly mated, as 
described in Chapter 14. Very well. Now you are ready to feed 
your breeding stock — not for record laying, but for record chicks. 

You are breeding some Mediterranean variety — Leghorns, Anconas, 
anything you please, of the small, nervous, fast growing, quick matur- 
ing sort. These birds require no nerve food. On the contrary they 
need fattening food — plenty of corn, milk, vegetables. Get your Leg- 
horn hens as fat as you can — they won't take on too much flesh — and 
note the increased size and vigor of their chicks. And when the 
chicks come, crowd them to the limit. See to it that they have plenty 
of granulated bone, chick grit, green stuff, fresh water, sour milk, and 
exercise. The latter is a mighty important factor. 

Keep the Chicks Busy! 

I have grown some immense Leghorns, and the way I did is 
this: 

After the chicks were "nest ripe" — that is not earlier than 48 hours 
after the hatch is completed — I begin operations. First, they get some 
chick grit — just a pinch for each one — with some of the medicated 
charcoal prepared by the Des Moines Incubator Co., of Des Moines, 
Iowa, and water in a chick fountain. An hour or two later they get 
their first supply of the Gritless Chick Food prepared by Park & 
Pollard of Boston, Mass. I would say at the outset that I use the 
Park & Pollard foods solely because they give better results at less 
cost than any others — and I have gone far afield in my search for the 
best. 

I keep the chicks in Buckeye colony houses either with hens or 
Lullaby brooders in lots of from 15 to 30 — depending on the season. 



34 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

These houses are large, snug, dry and vermin proof; and they make 
homes for the chicks until transferred to the laying or breeding 
houses. 

After the second day the youngsters are given the Gritless 
Chick Food in ground alfalfa which is spread thickly on the floor. A 
liberal supply of this food is scattered in the alfalfa and they are kept 
busy thereby. A chick mash, called "Growing Food" is supplied after 
a week or ten days. There is plenty of animal food, so necessary 
to chick growth, in this combination. 

When the youngsters are about a month old a coarser grain— 
the Intermediate Chick Food — is substituted for the gritless, but the 
growing food is used until they mature. 

The chicks are confined in well shaded runs until they are 
weaned, when they go on free range. This prevents any loss from 
cats, rats and other vermin. 

Scratching for grain gives exercise. But this is not enough. 
Odds and ends of food must be thrown into the pen many times daily. 
Bits of bread or boiled potatoes, leaves of lettuce or Swiss chard, an 
occasional earth worm — it matters little what, so long as it gives them 
something to race, chase and scrap over. 

In breeding the Asiatics, and, to a certain extent, the Orpingtons, 
Rocks and Reds, different preparations are necessary. These larger 
breeds, being less active than the Mediterraneans, must be handled 
accordingly. No fattening food — no corn meal — no "Johnnie cake." A 
little corn, oats and oat meal, wheat and bran. These are the staples. 
For all purposes the Park & Pollard Screened Scratch Grain answers 
best. It contains enough corn to keep up steam during the cold 
weather, with a well blended variety of other grains. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 35 

The chicks of these larger varieties should have, in addition to the 
food already described, a considerable amount of oat meal which may 
be boiled or made into oat cakes. The chicks will relish this for a 
change. Bear in mind that your object is to keep them growing, but 
growing in the right way. Keep them busy every minute. Never 
allow them to "hump up" and mope. A brief set back is enough to 
turn a promising chick into a worthless cull. Therefore keep them 
growing. 

The secret of feeding for eggs is easily mastered. Have your 
pullets butter fat when they go into the laying house. Remember 
that it is as impossible to get figs from thistles as eggs from a scrawny, 
half-starved bird. 

In feeding for "commercial" eggs it is necessary to give food that 
will induce laying in the late fall and early winter when eggs com- 
mand top prices. For this purpose foods rich in animal protein, 
blended with the right amount of carbon — like corn for instance — must 
be supplied. The "standard" foods — wheat, oats, corn and barley — 
were formerly used, exclusively. Then somebody began feeding a 
"wet" mash, made up of bran, middlings and so forth, and mixed 
with water. This produced "results" by increasing the egg yield. 
It likewise produced, in many cases, disastrous results — causing bowel 
trouble — especially when vegetable protein was used — getting birds 
"off their feed" and out of condition generally. 

A mash food is necessary. A wet mash is unnecessary. In our 
laying tests with various breeds we have produced remarkable results 
with never an ounce of wet mash. 

One method of feeding whereby such records as 1,321 eggs laid 
by six Partridge Rocks in one year, 1,215 by six Leghorns, 1,165 by 
six Reds, and 863 by four White Rocks — each in one year — was as 
follows : 



36 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

The pullets were kept growing until matured and up to weight. 
And here I want to say most positively that the fellow who adver- 
tises that his "strain" lays at 3% months is, if possible, a bigger fool 
than knave. The claim, like many others made by reckless people, 
proves how ignorance and mendacity go together. The most 
precocious Leghorns do not lay at such an age. And any bird that 
is forced to lay before it is able to stand the strain is ruined both as 
a layer and breeder. 

When the pullets were placed in the laying or breeding house 
they were fed — as a rule — a small amount of scratch feed — a handful 
or two each — in the morning, and a heavier feed in the afternoon. 
Meanwhile the Dry Mash and Growing Feed, mixed half and half, 
was kept before them all the time until they began laying; then the 
Growing Feed was dropped. Now and then — as often as they seemed 
to relish it — some steamed alfalfa was given them, with occasional 
extras in the vegetable way — cabbages, potatoes, apples, beets, etc. 
Pure water in clean vessels, grit, charcoal, shells and some granulated 
bone — there you have it. 

This method means a great saving of time and money. It means 
that when birds are properly housed — not in a ridiculous "system"' 
coop, where all the work is done while exposed to the elements, but 
in a real poultry house — that one man may care for dozens or hun- 
dreds. It means strong and healthy birds and a big egg yield, with no 
condiments nor forcing of any sort. 

Don't waste your money and ruin your birds with any of the 
so-called "egg makers," "patent foods," or on any of tho "hundred- 
eggs-for-a-cent" swindles. Nobody gives something for nothing. And 
the knave who advertises real food at a few cents a bushel is no 
better than the so-called "breeder" who advertised eggs from a flock 
of prize birds at 50 cents per 15. 



CHAPTER VI 
HATCHING 



It looks so easy! 



Apparently all that is necessary is to put a hen in a box, along 
with some eggs — or load an incubator, light the lamp, and let it go ! 

Then, when the eggs fail to hatch, how easy it is to blame the 
breeder and demand free eggs; and if he won't supply them — as 
there is no reason why he should unless they were unquestionably 
infertile — what a pleasant pastime it is to write a letter of accusation 
to some editor. 

The beginner should undertand one thing clearly: No matter how 
far a dishonest breeder may go to get trade, yet the worst of them 
do not send out "doctored" eggs, nor rotten eggs, nor infertile eggs. 
On rare occasions some notorious humbug may buy up pages of space 
and by filling that space with shameless falsehoods may rob beginners 
thereby. But the worst of these knaves will send hatchable eggs. 

Why is it then that good eggs, bought from reliable breeders, so 
often fail to hatch well? 
There are several reasons. 
One is that the hen often sits too well. 
Impossible? 

Oh no. Eggs must have plenty of fresh air. 
Oxygen is a vital necessity. 
There is a secret worth remembering, 



38 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

If the hen is set in a close, musty room; if she hugs her nest — 
as some of them do — and if, as a result, what little fresh air might 
reach the eggs is smothered, so to speak, the hatch will not he good. 
And if the eggs are "all rotten" you may be sure that they were 
all fertile, but that they had died for want of the necessary oxygen 
to sustain life. 

The secret of getting good hatches with hens is this: 

Set the hen out of doors, on new laid eggs, where plenty of pure, 
fresh air can reach her. You may place her on the ground with a 
narrow cover at one end, and a dusting place with corn, water, 
charcoal and grit, under cover, at the other. This is the ideal way 
to set a hen — provided that she is a strong, lusty bird. 

Never set a hen on the ground unless she is full of good red 
blood — a vigorous, "sassy" creature, ready for a fight at any time. 
The "nice, quiet hen," the lady-like hen, the poor vitality hen, should 
never be used; but if you must chance such a one, keep her off 
the ground, and don't expect many chicks, nor good chicks either. 

See that the hen doesn't sit too "tight." As the hatch progresses 
she should remain off longer and longer. If she knows her business 
she will time herself. If she doesn't, you must extend the time 
gradually from five minutes to half an hour — depending upon the 
weather. 

As a matter of course you will see that she is kept free from 
lice while incubating and brooding. If she neglects to dust herself — 
as some of them do — then dust her yourself. Give her grain and per- 
haps a little green stuff to eat, but no mash food of any sort. 

There is another reason why some eggs will not hatch strong 
chicks even under the best of hens. Hit or miss mating by ignorant 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 39 

breeders who do not undertand the art; weak stock, shown by 
narrow breasts, thin legs, dull eyes and pinched heads; cheap eggs 
bought from cheap men; stock purchased from unknown breeders 
with no knowledge of its blood lines; all these lead to poor hatches. 
If you want to succeed, and save money while doing it, buy the 
best — the best from an honest man. A half dozen eggs from Lester 
Tompkins' best pen at four dollars per egg would be much cheaper 
than a hundred cull eggs at four cents each. And the same truth 
applies to all our really great breeders — men of honor and intelligence, 
who grew into the business from boyhood. 

When it comes to hatching by incubators we face other problems. 

We may buy the best incubator made — if there is a "best." We 
may use the best oil and follow directions to the letter. We can 
regulate the heat, and supply plenty of moisture. We may fill the 
incubator with the very best eggs obtainable. We may start two 
machines at the same time and test out so that one may be filled 
with fertile eggs. And when the chicks come we may get a hundred 
from a hundred eggs or we may not get one. Every chick may 
live, or every chick may die. 

What causes this wide range? 

Many things. 

First, and most important: 

Lack of oxygen! 

Remember that. 

LACK OP OXYGEN. 

The "heavy" air of the cellar; the burned out air of a small 
room; the breathed out air of a living room; in all of these the 
eggs are deprived of the life-giving oxygen to a greater or less extent, 
and the hatch suffers accordingly. 



40 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

Another cause of failure is in buying the worthless so-called 
"incubator" eggs — the sort that costs from two to four dollars per 
hundred. It is an insult to the machines to fill an incubator with 
such trash. Unless you can afford to buy enough good eggs to 
fill the machine you better depend on hens. For the best and 
freshest eggs should invariably be used in machine hatching. 

Hot air and hot water machines are both used Under proper 
conditions either will give satisfaction; under improper conditions 
neither will do so. 

A close, ill ventilated room is the worst place for an incubator. A 
well ventilated cellar is the best. 

And don't be timid about cooling the eggs. They need it. 

Don't use a turning tray. Turn by hand. A quarter turn is enough. 
But do it three or four times a day. 

And finally, bear in mind that the eggs must have fresh air. This 
does not mean that a current of air should blow over the eggs; for 
that would dry them out and ruin the hatch: but it does mean that 
pure fresh air must reach the eggs if they are to hatch and the chicks 
are to thrive. 



CHAPTER VII 
BROODING 

Let us suppose that your hen has about finished her work. The 
infertile and spoiled eggs have been removed. If any eggs were 
broken the nest has been cleaned and the remaining eggs carefully 
washed in warm water. The hen has been well fed, watered and 
dusted. The incubator eggs have been properly turned, cooled and 
ventilated. 

Very good. 

Most of the eggs came by express and escaped butchery on the way; 
if they came from good, virile stock; if the weather conditions were 
right — if all the many "ifs" have been favorable, then you will have 
a good hatch. 

Are your troubles over? 

Not exactly. 

They have just begun. 

Reports of tests made by intelligent men have shown over and 
over that seventy-five out of a hundred chicks hatched would be a 
high average to reach maturity. 

Barring accidents every chick should, in theory, reach adult age. 
But accidents will happen and they must be considered. Sickness will 
come and it cannot be ignored. Therefore we might as well face the 
fact that any man who brings an average of seventy-five chicks out 
of a hundred to maturity has done exceedingly well. 



42 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

And what is the result of this well doing? 

Breeding and feeding. 

These are the two stumbling blocks that trip the beginner. 

The latter has been considered; now for the former. 

The secret of successful brooding is easier shown than told. 

The two methods — natural and artificial — vary widely. Success or 
failure does not depend on either. Good management means success 
in either case just as surely as poor management means failure. 

Let us first consider the natural method. 

If one raises only a few chicks a good "mother" hen makes the 
best brooder. She will teach, hover and protect them. The dreaded 
white diarrhoea win rarely trouble her little flock. If she "runs" 
with them in a roomy pen — as she should do — rats and cats will leave 
them alone. And so, barring accidents, she will raise most of her 
flock. 

But a good hatcher is not always a good brooder. An excitable 
hen, that is forever rushing about, will tread many chicks to death; 
and a clumsy, awkward hen will crush them. 

I never let a lot of valuable chicks out on free range until they are 
large enough to care for themselves. I don't believe in furnishing 
chick meat to cats or rats. 

The roomy Buckeye colony houses, with large covered runs, allow 
plenty of exercise. They give shelter in cold or stormy weather, and 
a cool, well ventilated retreat on hot days. When the hen is re- 
moved they make ideal homes for the growing youngsters, and they 
are vermin proof. Although each house measures six by three feet, 
with liberal head room, yet two men may carry one of them with ease. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 43 

In early spring no hen should be given more than a dozen or fifteen 
chicks; but as the days grow warmer the number may be increased. 
In June thirty-five are none too many. 

In warm weather be sure that houses and runs are placed where 
they will be shaded from the mid-day sun. 

And bear one thing in mind — I would repeat it again and again : 
Yarded chicks must have plenty of green food. 

What kind? 

Oh, any kind! Lawn clippings, clover, dandelion leaves, lettuce. 
Anything green that they will eat is good. Twenty-five cents worth 
of Swiss chard thinly planted in rows will furnish enough green stuff 
for a hundred chicks from May to December; for this plant puts out 
new leaves as fast as the older ones are broken off. 

Artificial brooding is a necessity in this commercial age. In no 
other way could the immense number of chicks be furnished to meet 
existing demands. 

Artificial brooding is not recommended to the beginner. Better trust 
the old hen at first. But if one is bound to try it, in the name of dol- 
lars and cents, try it on nothing earlier than May hatched chicks 

The secret of successful artificial brooding may be summed up in 
one word — warmth. 

We must supply steady heat, of the right degree, or trouble will 
begin; and once started it goes rapidly from bad to worse. A chick 
will live, though not thrive, on poor or insufficient food: but it will 
neither thrive nor live without proper heat. Without going into details, 
which is unnecessary, I will explain that the chemical changes where- 
by food is made to sustain the body demand a high temperature. 
If this is lowered, even for a little time, or if too high for a given 



44 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 

period, proper digestion ceases and trouble follows. The dreaded 
white diarrhoea in little chicks and many functional disorders in 
mature fowls may be traced to chilling or overheating. 

The beginner will hardly go to the expense of building a regular 
brooder house. And yet, if a brooder is used in cold weather — no 
matter whether it is a heated or "fireless" machine, the room in which 
it is placed must be warmed. Don't depend on the heat from the 
brooder lamp; and never, under any circumstances, use an oil stove. 
The first is wholly inefficient; the second vitiates the air. A coal 
stove, large enough to keep the room comfortable during the night, 
should be used — the object being to retain an even temperature at 
all times. 

In buying a brooder always discount the capacity one-half. Thus, if 
is a "guaranteed 200 chick" machine you may safely place 100 in it at 
first, afterwards reducing the number to 50. 

There are numerous "fireless" brooders on the market. The Buckeye 
Fireless, used in colony houses, is excellent for 25 to 50 chicks. And 
it is inexpensive. . 

For occasional use the Lullaby, made by Park & Pollard, of Boston, 
has many advantages. It is adjustable, and will take care of any num- 
ber from one to a score. For emergencies it is invaluable. And it 
is sent, charges paid, for $1.50. In making test hatches, where I 
might have only a few chicks of one variety, I have found that this 
little brooder answers every requirement. 

Take particular care to keep the brooders clean. I use ground 
alfalfa for a bedding, stirring it up every morning and renewing it once 
or twice a week. 



CHAPTER VIII 
YOUNG STOCK 

At last your chicks are weaned from hen or brooder. They are no 
longer in danger of white diarrhoea or any other baby illness. You 
no longer need coddle them. They know enough to go in when it 
rains; and if caught out in a sudden shower it won't harm them. 
You draw a long breath at the thought that your work is done. 

Don't deceive yourself. * 

A poultryman's work is never done! 

The secret of success with chicks after they are able to care 
for themselves is to keep them growing every minute. Therefore you 
should get them out on a good run whe,re there is plenty of green stuff 
and plenty of shade. 

But be careful that you do not bar out the sunshine. The colony 
houses should be so placed that the sun can get at them for an hour 
at least every day. 

Keep the houses clean. I see to it that every house is thoroughly 
sprayed with Zenolium or the Park & Pollard liquid lice killer once 
a week during the summer. Give the youngsters a dusting with good 
lice powder every week or ten days. It means work, of course, but 
it is work that pays. 

Clean out the litter on the floor of the colony houses as often 
as once in ten days. This duty is too often neglected after the 
chicks get on range. 



46 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

Don't be in too big a hurry to have them roost. Better wait until 
they are three-quarters grown. Then there will be no danger of 
crooked breast bones. 

The chicks need lots of fresh air. Therefore hook up both win- 
dows and keep them open day and night. The stout wire screens 
will bar out vermin. Be sure, however, that the door is closed every 
night. One single lapse may cost you twenty-five valuable birds. 

Don't neglect the birds because they are "on range." See that 
their fountains are full of fresh water daily. Remember that. Too 
often chicks that run free are left to find water as best they can. 

On stormy days provide a liberal amount of scratch grain — I find 
that the Intermediate Chick Feed is of especial value — so that the 
youngsters may keep busy. 

The secret of getting quick money on young stock is to bring 
the chicks to broiler size in the shortest time possible. If you can 
get your broods out early enough you can sell your January hatched 
broilers in March as the trade does not demand birds weighing more 
than a pound each. As the season advances the weight increases, 
and the price decreases. In May the demand is for birds weighing 
from two to three pounds each. 

And right here let me sound a note of warning. 

Don't take stock in any miserable "system" faker who advertises 
that he can teach you how to raise two pound broilers in eight weeks. 
Like those fabulous pullets that lay 26 eggs per month when six 
months old; like "feed" at 15 cents per bushel; like making $7,500 a 
year on a plot 40 feet square — as the same knave claimed he could do 
— all these are palpable falsehoods. 

You cannot get commercial broilers weighing two pounds at 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 47 

eight weeks. While an occasional extra precocious chick may hit 
that weight at the age, it cannot be done with any general flock. 

In fact, the beginner, unless most favorably situated, should be 
cautious about going into the broiler industry. If all goes well there 
is good money in it; but if the chicks get any setbacks — if they are 
not kept on the jump — then they will not reach a broiler age at any 
profit whatever. 

The beginner, if he has the very best stock obtainable to start 
with, will be able to make quite a tidy sum from his surplus birds. 
Along in December or January he should have them leg-banded and 
scored by a competent judge. This will enable him to know which 
are the best; and the judge will also price up the stock for him. 
Then, if possible, get an experienced breeder of the variety in hand 
to mate up such pens as are wanted for the coming season. 

The beginner will often be- amazed to find that his highest scoring 
birds — especially in the males — are passed by in favor of birds of less 
value. The experienced breeder may not be able to score the birds 
as the judges can do, but he knows how to mate, which the judge does 
not know, unless he chances to breed that variety. 

Having matched his pens the beginner may now advertise and 
sell his surplus stock. And he will be agreeably disappointed to find 
that his second birds — even those running under 90, will bring much 
better prices than if sold unscored. The reason is that a reputable 
judge has given his birds a standing, and thus a value, which they 
could not attain otherwise. 

If among these birds are any that score especially high, and the 
chances are that he will have them if the parent stock is right, the 
beginner will do well to insert a modest advertisement in a first class 
poultry magazine stating that he has such birds for sale. He should 



48 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

name the breed, variety, strain and sex, also the score, and the judge 
who rated them, with the price of each. He will have but little 
difficulty in disposing of such birds; and while he will not obtain 
any such prices as a great breeder gets for stock of the same grade, 
yet his expenses, being so much less, will leave him a handsome 
profit. 

The beginner will do well to continue hatching through the sum- 
mer. After May first the demand for eggs drops off and the trade is 
practically dead by the first of June. But there is always a demand 
for stock. And while the chicks hatched in mid-summer may not 
do as well as those turned out in April and May, yet they will pay far 
better than it would to sell eggs for market. Pullets of many varieties 
hatched as late as September first will be laying in March. And while 
their eggs should not be used for breeding they will bring very good 
prices for househould use. 

The secret of getting young stock up in weight quickly is found 
partly in feeding and partly in care. 

One should remember that growing chicks tire of the same food 
f'-'Y after day. Give them a variety. Today boil up small potatoes 
and see how they will scamper for them. Tomorrow give them 
boiled potatoes chopped up and mixed with bran. The next day give 
them some Growing Food dampened with sour milk. And so on. 
Mixed in thus with their regular food the youngsters will relish these 
extras and will thrive amazingly. 

In caring for the youngsters one must combat two ends — lice and 
overcrowding. The former may be kept in check by a never ending 
fight. Overcrowding of course results from hatching more chicks 
than one can accommodate. What would be roomy quarters for a 
hundred week-old chicks will be crowded quarters for a half-dozen 
adults. When the chicks are weaned no more than twenty-five should 
be kept together. Make this a positive rule, and live up to it. 



CHAPTER IX 

MATURING THE STOCK 

It is a common saying that the early layer is the payer. 

Like many another "saying" this is true or not, according to cir- 
cumstances. 

A pullet that begins laying too early is likely to "soldier" during 
the winter — "eating her head off" when eggs are highest. 

Early hatches are necessary for market birds; but for winter 
layers — and winter payers — the pullets should not begin work before 
November. 

Too early laying is often followed by a late moult — and that means 
good-bye to eggs until the following spring. 

The secret of producing heavy winter layers is in hatching at the 
right time — according to the breed- — and in bringing the pullets to the 
pink of condition late in the season instead of early. 

One of the most absurd claims made by a certain alleged breeder, 
was that pullets of his pretended "strain" laid when less than four 
months old! Had this been true it would have proven that his birds 
were worthless. The Orpingtons — which this person handled — are 
large biras; and while this breed is a wonderfully fast grower, and 
can be forced to lay as early as the Leghorns, yet no legitimate Orping- 
ton breeder ever attempts it. He knows better. 

No pullet of any variety should lay before she is six months old if 
she is to be used thereafter as a breeder. 



50 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

Forcing means ruin. 

Precocity is abnormal. It is gained only at the expense of the 
vital powers. 

If you are running an egg farm, and replenish your stock by buying 
a new lot of pullets every year, you may slaughter the innocents — 
forcing early maturity, forcing heavy laying, and sell the broken 
down, played out birds the next summer, just before they begin to 
moult. But you cannot breed successfully from such birds. 

The light, nervous Mediterranean breeds may be hatched in June 
with excellent results. They should begin laying in December, and, 
if properly housed and fed, will continue laying through the winter. 
Winter layers in the American breeds must be got out earlier. The 
first of May is late enough. 

Crowd your pullets for size. Get them "on their legs," large of 
frame, big of bone. Give them muscle first, and meat later. 

If the youngsters look "leggy" you may be sure that they are 
doing well. 

The "gawky" pullet usually makes the biggest, healthiest, best 
laying hen. 

Better retara laying than hurry it, except as noted. Unless running 
an "egg farm" I would move the pullets from one pen to another, after 
housing them in the fall, so that they would not lay too early. 

Let the young birds have free range as long as possible. If not 
overcrowded they can be kept in colony houses until the middle of 
October, and sometimes even later. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 51 

The so-called "utility" pullets — meaning those kept merely for 
eggs — should be housed earlier than the choice stock that has been 
reserved for future breeding. 

The cockerels of course should have been separated from the 
pullets as soon as they became annoying. If the cockerels become 
quarrelsome — and they are apt to do so — put an oid male among 
them. He will act as a peace-maker, preventing any serious fighting. 

Be sure that the growing stock has plenty of roosting room. 
The ordinary 3 by 6 colony house, if well ventilated, and provided 
with two roosts, will accommodate from 12 to 20 pullets, as they 
approach maturity. The great thing is to avoid over-heating at 
night. The late summer and early fall days require that especial 
attention be given the youngsters. 

In these days keep up an unending warfare on lice and mites. 
If troubled with insect pests they will not sleep well — which means 
a set-back. If overcrowded they become overheated, and will be almost 
certain to catch cold on going out in the cool morning air. 

To the egg farmer the first year of a hen's life is the profit making 
year. After that she should be marketed. Buy or raise pullets yearly 
to take the place of the old birds. 

If the beginner has high grade stock he will find some good 
breeders and perhaps some strong show birds when his youngsters 
mature. 

These birds require different handling from that given the layers. 

Take the pullets, for instance. The experienced showman knows 
that a pullet is at her very best just before she begins laying. Bear 
that fact in mind, as it has much to do with your pullet winnings. 



52 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

To have your pullets "show ripe" — that is, at their best when 
exhibited — they must be hatched at the right time, and matured in the 
right way. 

Supposing you plan to show in October. If you breed any of the 
small, quick maturing Mediterraneans you can get your pullets — and 
cockerels, too, for that matter — into show shape if hatched any time 
between the middle of March and the middle of April. But the same 
birds shown in December should not see daylight before the first of 
May. And the pullets to be shown in January will, if properly matured, 
do best if hatched in June. 

The American and English breeds must break their shells earlier. 

Pullets of the Rock, Red, Wyandotte^ or Orpington classes should 
not be shown by novices in the fall exhibitions. Such birds must be 
hatched, as a rule, in February; and there are few beginners who have 
proper facilities for keeping winter hatched chicks on the jump. 
Better wait until March or April and get out birds for the winter 
shows. 

Cockerels should have an earlier start than pullets. It takes 
longer to get them right in weight and plumage. 

And here I want to say something to the beginner that will — if 
heeded — enable him to write Success, where otherwise he would spell 
Failure : 

NEVER FORCE YOUR BIRDS FOR THE FALL SHOWS! 

By stuffing your promising show birds; by tempting them with 
frequent feedings; by coaxing them with tid-bits — scraps of meat, 
sweetened bread, boiled and sugared rice, and so forth, you may put 
the weight on late hatched birds, and may win the blu^ in October. 

But note the result: 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 53 

Your stuffed and untimely fattened birds will go off their feed 
in January. With impaired digestion, with every organ weakened 
by the strain of over-feeding, your prize winners will throw you scrub 
stock, if indeed they breed at all. More likely the best of them will 
be dead by spring. Congestion in one form or another — for roup, bowel 
troubles, acute indigestion, — these and other ills, are congestive — will 
carry off the flower of your flock. 

In maturing your birds there is nothing better than a liberal feed- 
ing of the Park & Pollard Scratch Grain in deep litter, with their 
Growing Food in hoppers. To the latter you might add their Fattening 
-Food during the last week before your show birds go out — the ratio 
being four quarts of Growing Food to one quart of Fattening Food. 
Give them plenty of milk to drink, with grit and charcoal — mixing some 
in the mash — and plenty of bulky green food — cabbage, alfalfa, beets, 
etc., — and then let nature do the rest. 



CHAPTER X 
DISEASES 

Prevention is better than cure. Indeed, with a few exceptions, 
there are no "cures" for poultry ills. 

These things are necessary for health: good stock, proper hous- 
ing, feeding, and cleanliness. Given these, and there will be very 
little sickness in any plant. 

Good stock is the principal thing. Birds that are bright, alert, 
with keen appetites; with clear eyes, red combs, smooth plumage, 
clean legs; the male that crows, "talks", digs, fights; the female that 
scratches, "sings" and lays. Such birds are healthy, and will beget 
healthy chicks. 

Breeding stock should be mature. To be on the safe side, 
no bird should be placed in the breeding pen before it is a year old. 
While most varieties are laying long before this, there are few that 
lay eggs fit for hatching at an earlier age. The two year old hen lays 
eggs that are larger, and better in every way for breeding purposes. 

There is no danger from judicious inbreeding. Indeed, inbreeding 
is absolutely necessary to produce certain results. 

BUT BE CAREFUL. 

If the breeder is heedless or ignorant; if he uses birds that are, 
or have been, afflicted with any disease; if both parents have a 
similar fault — in any of these cases inbreeding is dangerous. 

Never use a bird for breeding that has been sick. Remember this 
rule and live up to it. A slight ailment — a trifling cold or "off" on 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 55 

feed — is not a bar. But anything serious shouid remove the afflicted 
bird forever from the breeding pen. It takes courage to do this, 
especially if the bird is a high scoring male. But it pays. 

It is usually a waste of time and money to "doctor" any bird that 
is seriously ill. Better use the axe at once and be done with it. 

If from healthy stock, little chicks will be healthy when hatched. 
If they fail to remain so the breeder is at fault ninety-nine times out 
of a hundred. 

There are various causes for disease, among the most common 
being the following: Unsuitable location of buildings, lack of sunshine, 
dampness, vermin, impure water, lack of grit and charcoal, of green 
food and of fresh air and exercise. And there is no excuse for any of 
them. 

The dusty "dusting boxes" are not used in our testing house. If 
the birds are dusted with a good lice powder about the first and 
seventh of each month there will be no trouble with body lice and no 
need of choking the house up with unsanitary dust. The worst lice 
are those that infest the roosts and nests. These can be kept in 
subjection by using plenty of Zenolium or the Park and Pollard Liquid 
Lice Killer. 

Be careful about the drinking water, and equally careful about the 
vessels that hold it. The latter should be cleaned daily — thoroughly 
cleaned — and that, too, in winter as well as in summer. Look after the 
floors. If of dirt — which they should not be — you must dig up and 
cart off six or eight inches of the filthy surface and replace with new 
dirt. This should be done twice a year — say in April and October. If 
board floors are used, which are expensive, they should be scraped 
clean three or four times a year, disinfected, and covered with plenty 



56 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

of sand. Cement floors should be cleaned twice a year, and covered 
with two or three inches of sharp sand and six or eight inches of oat 
straw. 

Look after the runs. Unless you have the "no yard" houses — which 
are often the best — you should see that the runs never get foul. If 
the space is limited let it be spaded frequently — two or three times 
per month — from early spring to late fall. Each time mix in a 
liberal quantity of oats. This will start the birds digging, and will 
also suply a limited amount of green food. Sunflowers or field corn 
might be grown, thus supplying both shade and food. If large enough 
the runs could be sedded down in a stout lawn grass or alfalfa — for 
green food is a necessity. 

All the foregoing is in the way of preserving health. 

Don't dose the birds. 

Charcoal — especially the medicated charcoal — will usually keep 
the bowels regular. But if the droppings seem too hard, a little linseed 
meal, mixed with bran in a moist mash will be effective. 

In considering a few particular diseases it is best to say at once 
that no very sick bird should be "doctored." Kill and bury it; bury it 
deep; or cremate it. 

The most common and fatal disease of small chicks is the deadly 
"white diarrhoea." In almost every case it is really an intestinal 
indigestion, resulting from many causes — the most common being 
chilling or over-heating. 

There is no "sure cure" for this disease. I have carefully tested 
many alleged "cures," but have found nothing reliable. When a chick 
cannot digest its food; when it "pastes up," becomes droopy, and 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 



57 



"peeps" dismally, the best thing is to end its misery; for if, by chance, 
it recovers from a bad attack it will always be a stunted, worthless 
bird. 

But while this disease is generally incurable, yet it is easily pre- 
ventable. And the "secret" — so called — of avoiding it is first, to hatch 
right; second, to brood right; third, to feed right. 

Careful tests show that artificially hatched and brooded chicks 
are more liable to attacks than are those hatched by hens. This should 
not be the case, and would not be the case if we understood the 
business as well as the hen does. 

We don't. We never can. 

But if we would equalize matters we should use incubators and 
heated brooders early in the season, and employ hens later. 

Chilling is fatal. A tireless brooder is all very well in warm 
weather; but any man who offers to sell a 'system" for keeping chicks 
in a heatless brooder, out of doors, in zero weather, is a knave. Have 
nothing to do with such a person. 

Keep the chicks comfortably warm, don't overcrowd, feed as 
directed, and your early hatched birds will seldom have any bowel 
trouble. 

While chilling is fatal, over-heating is equally so. Chicks can 
safely endure much more heat in late winter or early spring than in 
the summer. Therefore "mother" your late hatched chicks with hens 
or tireless brooders. 

The fine spun theories of salaried people; the "tweedle dum and 
tweedle dee" arguments over the source of this disease have no practi- 
cal value. You can prevent white diarrhoea. You cannot "cure" it. 



58 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

Fowl cholera is a contagious, rapid and deadly disease. Symptoms 
are great thirst; loss of appetite; high fever; drowsiness; comb, face, 
and wattles seem bloodless; excessive diarrhoea; death. 

There is no cure. 

The treatment is preventive. Disinfect thoroughly and often. 
Promptly remove all infected birds. Give them water to which creolin 
has been added — a teaspoonful to an ordinary wooden bucket. For 
individual treatment with valuable birds that are under suspicion, 
give a small dose — a one-thousandth of a grain tablet of mercury 
bichloride every two or three hours. If the disease is established, then 
promptly kill and cremate the bird. 

Genuine cholera is rare. Therefore note all the symptoms. 

Roup is a cold — that means, a congestion. But a cold is not often 
roup. When the bird stinks — that's the proper word, for the roup 
"odor" is a stench — when this smell is present with the usual marks 
of a bad cold — don't hesitate. 

CHOP OFF ITS HEAD! 

All the roup "cures" on earth will not make such a bird fit for 
breeding. She is almost certain to transmit the disease, or a tendency 
to contract it, even though she herself should apparently be "cured." 

Don't "fuss" with a roupy bird. If you do you are liable to catch 
the distemper — for it is very contagious. 

A neglected cold is the usual exciting cause of roup. And a cold 
is easily cured if taken in hand at once. 

As soon as you hear any wheezing or sneezing among your birds 
you should begin operations. A dollar cure for dime — or less — may 
be had as follows: 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 59 

Mix a teaspoonful of pure creolin in a gallon of water. At night 
take a hand pump — one that throws a fine mist — and spray about the 
roosts so that the birds may inhale the creolin. They will cough and 
sneeze. Never mind. Make a thorough job of it. Repeat every night 
for a week. Pour a little kerosene oil — enough to make a film — over 
their drinking water. Give each sick bird one grain quinine pill at 
night. Repeat once or twice. Place enough permanganate of potash 
in a cup of water to color it a deep red. Dip the bird's head in the 
solution keeping it there ten or fifteen seconds. Repeat. Give this 
treatment twice daily so long as need be. If it is nothing but a "cold" 
this treatment will cure. If it grows worse, if the peculiar roup odor 
is present, then the hatchet is the only safe and sure "cure." 

The disease called gapes is caused by worms in the windpipe. It 
mostly affects chicks from one to four weeks old, and therefore it is 
very hard to treat effectively. 

If any of your chicks are drooping, sneezing, coughing, going about 
with their mouths open, look for gape worms. They are thready 
creatures from an eighth to a half inch long and are found clinging to 
the chicks windpipe. 

The only thing to do is to separate the sick from the well and 
remove each to a new location. And the old ground should never 
be used again for young chicks. If you have the time, skill and 
patience, you may remove the worms by hand. If not, you might 
place the afflicted chicks in a box or barrel and let some air-slacked 
lime sift over them through a piece of bagging. Use care in this so 
that the little fellows will not strangle. 

Enough could be written about other ills affecting poultry to fill 
a book as large as this. The writing of such a book might help a man 
employed by an endowed state college or station to kill time; but it 



60 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

would be of little or no practical benefit. To illustrate: I might pre- 
pare a long article on tuberculosis, filled with words of "learned 
length and thundering sound," beginning with the ^'diagnosis" and 
ending with the "concomitant" fatality. But as there is no possible 
cure for the disease it would avail but little to discuss it. 

To sum up : Breed from healthy, well-mated stock. Provide roomy, 
dry, well-ventilated houses that are free from drafts. Feed as directed. 
Keep the premises clean and the birds free from vermin. If these 
rules are followed there will be very little sickness. 

And finally: LET THE WELL BIRDS ALONE! 

Don't try to increase their growth or egg production with "tonics," 
"condiments," "egg food," or any other atrocities. If you do, you'll rue 
it. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE MARKETS 

The secret of selling eggs and stock at a profit may be told in one 
word: 

Advertise ! 

And the secret of continuing to sell year after year may be told 
in one word: 

Quality ! 

Advertising will sell; but unless the quality is there, to back the 
advertising, there can be no permanent business. 

Knaves have bought space in magazines from fawning publishers, 
and by thus sharing their plunder have robbed the public for a time; 
but only for a time. Their fraudulent claims and ''strains," backed 
by no real quality, have been exploded, and they have disappeared 
one after another. 

There is a right way to sell, and a wrong way to sell. 

The wrong way — in selling market eggs — is the ordinary hit or 
miss — usually miss — "farmer" method. Eggs gathered and sold at odd 
times — stale, fresh or spoiled — never assorted for shape, size or color — 
and bartered at the village store at the lowest rate. Stock carried 
over long after it has ceased to pay. Young stock sold when prices 
are at their lowest. 

The right way to sell what is known as "commercial" poultry and 
eggs, is to take pains — lots of pains — and do business in a business- 
like way. 



62 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 



Get your hatches off early. Push the young stock hard. Broilers 
weighing from a pound and a half to two pounds command high prices 
early in the season, while late hatched broilers are often a drug in 
the market. Hens should be fattened and sold — if you run an egg farm 
— in their second year, before they begin to moult. Roasters, as a 
rule, should be confined to the larger breeds, and may be grown 
at a profit only where food is cheap. 

Egg farming may be very profitable — or it may be a financial 
graveyard. The secret of avoiding the latter is to satisfy the public. 
If white eggs are wanted, give them white eggs. If they — with equal 
foolishness — demand brown eggs, then the eggs must be brown. 

But whether white or brown, the eggs must be fresh, clean, and 
graded to size-up evenly. And the larger these fresh and clean eggs 
are, the better prices they will bring. 

Eggs should be neatly packed in cartons holding one dozen each. 
These cartons, or boxes, should be labeled, with some catchy name 
for your farm, or yards, and sold under a dated guarantee. A typical 
label would read like this: 



P 



HIGHLAND FARM, 

John Doe, Proprietor, 

Roeville, N. Y. 

STRICTLY FRESH EGGS. 
GUARANTEED. 

The eggs in this carton were laid 19. 



E 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 63 

Having got your labels and boxes ready, pack a few dozen and 
get busy. If you live within reach of a city of fair size your market is 
right there. Make a personal canvas, starting in on the afternoon 
that the label is dated. "Eggs laid today" is a big puller. Try it. 
You will be amazed to see how quickly you can work up a route and 
at advanced prices. Sell for cash only. Make it a positive rule — 
No money, no eggs! Thus you avoid bad debts. The rule may be 
hard sometimes, but never mind that. Live up to it. You will be a big 
winner in the end. 

If you go in for "blooded stock" and sell eggs for hatching, you will 
face a different problem. 

In the beginning you must have good birds. Your stock or eggs 
must come from a noted breeder unless you want to go through long 
years of needless toil. 

Show your stock; first at the smaller shows. As your skill 
increases, branch out. Don't be afraid to go where the big noise is 
made. - 

Stand on your feet as soon as possible. But don't imitate that 
flagrant faker who advertised that he had "originated a strain" before 
he had raised a single chicken. 

Advertise. But don't lie. Don't say that you have a ten thousand 
dollar hen, for there never was such a thing. Don't say that your flock 
"averages 256 eggs per hen," for no "flock," nor even a pen, ever did 
that. Don't say that your six months old pullets are "all laying 26 
eggs monthly," for they are not. In brief, don't try to fool people 
with any such silly lies. You are certain to be found out. They all 
are. And then you will wish that you had emulated the Father of our 
country. 

But don't hide your light. 



64 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

Advertise. 

Talk big. Tell what you have done. Make a noise. That is all 
in the way of business, and it is legitimate business. 

Don't scatter your shot. Better put a good advertisement in one 
prominent magazine than a little card in twenty. 

If you have a good "selling face," have a cut made from your 
photograph and use it. But if you look like a poet, or a prize fighter 
or a "confidence" man — as the best of us may do — then keep your face 
out of print. 

Advertise. 

But advertise according to the season. 

Don't offer eggs in October, baby chicks in November, nor stock 
in April. 

Eggs for hatching should be advertised in late winter and early 
spring; baby chicks from early to late spring; stock in the summer 
and fall. 

At the outset you cannot expect to secure the prices that are 
paid old breeders. But don't give your eggs away. Three dollars a 
setting is better than thirty cents. 

The secret of getting better prices for your stock is this: Have a 
competent judge score them and furnish a score card numbered to 
correspond with the leg-band on each bird scored. Have this card 
made out with ink or an indelible pencil, and signed and dated by 
the judge. This gives each bird a standing and a value. 

Advertise. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 65 

Let people know that you are offering birds for sale that have 
been scored by Judge So-and-so, and that you will furnish the score 
card with each bird. Have the judge put a price on each bird as he 
scores, and advertise that fact. 

All this gives confidence, makes value, and will sell your birds 
where nothing else would do it. 

And finally — 

Keep right on advertising. 

Before, and during the busy months, tell what you are doing. In 
the dull months tell what you are going to do. 

Then do it. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE SHOW ROOM 

Why do the most successful breeders show their birds in competi- 
tion? It is troublesome and costly. Why not tell what they have, and 
let it go at that? 

The reason for exhibiting is that people must not only be "shown," 
but they must know who has the winners. 

Moreover, the poultry show is a great inciter of public interest. 
We catch the hen fever in the show room. 

The "American Standard of Perfection" is the authority, and the 
only authority on show birds recognized in this country. Every 
breeder should own a copy of this book as it gives a full description 
of every recognized variety. One cannot breed exhibition birds without 
a Standard. 

The value of the poultry show, both from an educational and busi- 
ness viewpoint, is very great. 

The beginner learns more by observation than he could in months 
of study elsewhere. 

Show your birds. 

You may not "win the blue" nor a ribbon of any color; but you 
will get in line for future winnings. 

Begin cautiously. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 67 

Don't rush your birds off to New York, Boston or any other big 
city the first year. 

Start in at the fall fairs. Here is where many a fancier is born, 
for it is at the fall fairs that thousands of people get their first ideas 
of thoroughbred poultry. 

Groom your birds carefully. See that they have clean feet and 
legs. Some of your best birds may be in moult. Never mind. The 
youngsters may not be up in weight. All right. Show them just the 
same, for many of your rivals will have the same trouble. 

Of course you want to win at the fall shows, and here is a secret 
that will aid you: 

See that the birds shown in the fall were hatched at the right 
time. 

Thus the adult birds exhibited, say, in September, should have 
been hatched late in the previous year. This will throw their moult 
back so that they may be in good feather at that time. The young 
stock should be hatched about the first of April, and should be well 
up in weight by September. Don't get birds out for the fall shows 
earlier than the middle of March, for you don't want the pullets to 
begin laying before they are shown. This fact is very important. A 
pullet is at her best just before maturity. Therefore if she begins 
her "egg song," and you think she is ready to lay, discourage her 
from so doing by changing her from one pen to another. 

The beginner is, at the outset, puzzled greatly over the question 
of choice of breeds. Frequently he is advised to take up with some 
one of the rarer varieties. It is urged that by so doing he will have 
much less competition and therefore a much greater chance to win 
the coveted blue ribbons. If the winning of ribbons was the sole object 



68 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

of poultry culture, such advice might be good. If there was any credit 
in winning with little or no opposition, such advise might be good. 
But as prizes are but incidents, and as a winning where there is no 
competition is merely a walk-over, such advice is decidedly bad. To 
show without competition is wasted effort. One may learn far more 
by losing in competition than by winning without competition. 

Don't go in then for the freaks. You will find that the Plymouth 
Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Orpingtons, Leghorns or Wyandottes will 
give you plenty of variety. In fact there are 27 standard varieties of 
these five breeds, and about a dozen more that have not been admitted 
to the Standard. 

For a secondary group we have the Brahmas, Cochins, Dominiques, 
Dorkings, Houdans, Langshans and Minorcas. These are all standard 
and valuable breeds. But the beginner will find that any of the more 
popular varieties from the first group will be in greater demand than 
all those in the last. 

It is impossible in the scope of a single chapter to give the 
multitude of secrets for preparing and showing birds. Each breed, 
and indeed each variety, requires particular treatment. All this 
will be found in my special book on the subject entitled "Show Room 
Secrets." In this book every Standard breed and variety is taken up 
separately and the beginner is told, for the first. time, how to breed, 
grow to weight, and condition birds to win. 

Winning is not, as some believe, a matter of luck. Nor do prizes 
go by favor. There have been and there will be some dishonest 
showmen and dishonest judges. But the fakers are few and juggling 
judges are fewer yet. The standard is high and the showroom demands 
that exhibitors and judges shall be men of unblemished reputation. 



CHAPTER XIII 

FANCY STOCK 

No man ever had a well developed attack of "hen fever" without 
desiring, sooner or later, to show his birds and win some prizes. 

That is a proper ambition. 

Moreover, it is an ambition that leads to fortune, if wisely fol- 
lowed. 

Please keep in mind that last phrase: If wisely followed. 

I emphasize it because too many beginners do not follow wisely. 

All show birds are expensive — the cost depending upon quality. 
The perfect bird would score one hundred points. But no such bird has 
ever been seen, and there is no probability that one ever will be seen. 
I have scored a multitude of birds; but even in the highest scoring 
varieties — solid colored birds — like the White Leghorns or White 
Wyandottes, I have never found one that would come within several 
points of perfection; while in some of the parti-colored varieties — 
which naturally score lower than those of solid color — it is a rare bird 
that will go over ninety. Indeed there are some particularly difficult 
varieties which seldom reach that score. For this reason one should 
bear in mind that what would be a comparatively low standing for 
one of the easier breeds would be very high for another. A ninety-six 
point white bird may be had, but don't look for it in a Rhode Island 
Red. 



70 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

There is nothing in which the beginner is more likely to form a 
wrong idea of value than in exhibition birds. I have sold a bird for 
$75 and another, from the same hatch for $5. 

Why should there be such a wide difference in price? The be- 
ginner cannot understand it. He thinks that one is too dear or the 
other too cheap. 

The answer to this puzzle is that, not considering the breeder's 
reputation or the value of his strain, every bird is judged by its own 
individual value. 

Beginners are prone to think of birds as of dollars coming from 
the mint — that each is as good as the next; or, admitting a difference, 
he thinks it should be slight. 

It is true that "strain" has value. A bird bred by a man of acknowl- 
edged standing is far more likely to show value than if bred by a 
novice. Thus I would rather have a ten dollar White Rock bred by 
U. R. Fishel than one apparently worth fifty, of whose antecedants I 
knew nothing. The former would throw stock of a known value. The 
latter would carry one immediately into the unknown; and the chances 
would be that such stock would have market value only — and poor 
value at that. 

And here is a fact worth remembering. The beginner makes a 
mistake — usually a fatal mistake — in buying, at the outset, birds of 
exceptional quality. He does not know how to mate for the best 
results nor how to raise the youngsters that come from the mating. 
Consequently he would be courting disaster to buy such a bird. 

None of the really great breeders will sell a bird of the highest 
quality to an inexperienced man, unless he has a manager who knows 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 71 

how to handle such stock. They know — those men of quality — that 
otherwise failure would result; and they place reputation above dollars. 

The beginner should buy good stock — birds good enough to show 
if need be — but not thousand dollar birds, nor hundred dollar birds. 
A trio at a hundred dollars, or a pen at a hundred and fifty, properly 
mated for best results, is as high as any novice should go. And he may 
well begin with cheaper birds than that. 

A common mistake — and this is a "secret" known to every ex- 
perienced fancier — is that of the amateur who buys a blue ribbon win- 
ner — especially a male — and places him at once in a breeding pen. 

Don't do it. 

Birds must be shown. Public interest demands it. Show birds 
must be used — at the right time — as breeders. But if you possibly can 
avoid it do not place the birds you have shown in your breeding pens 
for weeks after; months would be better; a whole year would be best. 

Why? 

Well, here is another "secret", also well known to every breeder 
of experience: No bird that has been shown is fit to use as a breeder 
until he has had a thorough rest and is again in condition for breeding. 

Show "condition" and breeding "condition" are not always the 
same. Often they are very far apart. A bird, of the variety where 
weight counts, which has been stuffed to make that weight, is not fit 
for the breeding pen until restored to a normal condition. 

The selling of show stock is an art not easily mastered. The 
beginner may as well understand at the outset that he cannot get the 
prices paid to men of established reputation. He may have as good 



72 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

individual birds as Fishel, Tompkins, Cook, Tecktonius, or Kaufmann 
and Windheim. But if he charges as much for stock as these well- 
known breeders charge, the buyer will, naturally, go to them. The 
beginner, therefore, must make his prices low at first, or he will do 
no business. 

One secret of success — which is a "secret" only to the more observ- 
ing — is that of advertising. 

One of the "secrets" of successful advertising is to tell the truth. 

Don't imagine that because some big swindler buys his way into 
print, filling page after page with lies about his "strain" — which he 
"originated" by the simple process of hiring somebody to buy some 
birds for him — don't imagine, I say, that he is successful. He may 
carry on his nefarious business for a time, but, sooner or later, he 
pays the penalty. Don't imagine that the poultry business is all 
crooked, and that you, too, must be a crook, because some "system" 
knave is advertising, with apparent success, that he has made tens 
of thousands of dollars with poultry on a few square feet of land. 
There is but one end to all such cheap rascals. Either they quit sud- 
denly or land in the penitentiary. 

Lying never pays. 

Therefore tell the truth. 

At the outset you will find that the "Classified" advertisements 
pay the best. These cost a few cents per word, and give better re- 
turns for the money invested than can be had in any other way. 

From November to May, inclusive, you should advertise eggs for 
setting — also stock, if you have any for sale. From June to October, 
inclusive, advertise your breeders which you may have for disposal 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 73 

and also your young stock. Give prices for single birds, pairs, trios 
and pens. Make your prices low. Advertise in a few of the best 
poultry magazines. Don't expect too much at first. You won't get rich 
in a month, nor a year, nor in several years. But if you tell the 
truth, if you carry out every promise, if you give your customers a 
little the best of it every time, you will surely — though perhaps slowly 
— build up a business that will lead to fortune when the "get-rich- 
quick" knaves are "broke" or wearing stripes. 

Even in your small advertisements be careful what you say. 
Don't brag. 

You may have a wonderful pullet with an apparently authentic 
trap nest record of 256 eggs in a year. Even if so don't pretend that 
this pullet is a "flock" and advertise that your "flock has an average 
of 256 eggs in a year." 

Be modest. 

Look through the advertisements of men who have made a worthy 
name in poultrydom, and notice how little they boast. Isn't it better, 
then, to copy such men than to follow some ignorant faker who tries 
to push himself ahead by stupid bragging and untruthful boasting? 

If you are in doubt, then your experience will give the answer. 

You will need printed matter. A neat circular giving your win- 
nings — if you have made any — or of the birds from which your stock 
came; a modest letter-head and envelopes to match; labels for your 
egg boxes. These you will need at the outset. The circular and letter- 
heads should be of the very best quality — best paper, ink and workman- 
ship. As soon as possible have photo-engravings made from good 
photographs — for pictures are great pullers. Never use "stock" cuts. 
They cheapen you in the eyes of most people. 



74 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

Occasionally you will meet with dishonest buyers. They will tell 
you that the eggs were broken, that they were infertile, that they 
did not hatch. 

Never mind. 

You may not believe what they say, but give them the benefit of 
the doubt. Duplicate their order at half price, or, as I often do, at no 
price. Pocket the loss and let it go. 

It will pay in the end. 

To make money on fancy stock one must be content to make haste 
slowly. The trade along this line is wholly a matter of confidence. 
One must gain that confidence before it has a financial value ; but, when 
once established it is an asset of the greatest value. The good-will 
of a business like that built up by Fishel or Tompkins or Cook is worth 
an immense fortune; for, in each case, it has been built up by years 
of painstaking labor, in which truth and square dealing have been the 
foundation stones on which their fortunes are built. 



CHAPTER XIV 
POULTRY SECRETS 

A secret is something studiously concealed. Many widely adver- 
tised "secrets" have been sold at high prices, which proved on investi- 
gation to be merely well known facts. One of the worst of these fakes 
was a little booklet advertising a so-called "original strain" of birds, 
eked out with a few facts stolen bodily from a produce firm's year 
book, which this firm sent out gratis! In this "way" the kna^e was able 
to sell a catalogue of his pretended "strain" at a dollar each. The only 
original thing in the whole wretched swindle was the advertising, 
which the fellow hired somebody to prepare, and which heedless pub- 
lishers accepted — not thinking, possibly, that in taking his money they 
were r.haring his plunder. 

Other alleged "secrets" were those of the various "systems" — 
some good, some bad, mostly bad, because they promised impossibili- 
ties. One fellow had a "system" for making more than sixty dollars 
yearly from each hen! Another swindler of the same sort advertised 
that his "system" would enable "six people to make a good living from 
six hen*! Aided by his stool pigeons this petty cheat robbed thou- 
sands of unsophisticated people before he was finally taken in hand. 
The poultry business offered a rich field for these contemptible crooks, 
because it took the authorities some time to close down on them. And 
in the interim the industry suffered and thousands were plundered, 
directly and indirectly. 

Many of the secrets discussed in this book are known to various 
breeders. Some of them have been disclosed and are secrets no 



76 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

longer. They are published with such additions or improvements as 
experience dictates. Others are new discoveries now made public 
for the first time. 

MATING SECRETS. 

The great breeder is one who has learned how to mate his birds 
for best results for eggs, meat or exhibition. Percy A. Cook, with his 
wonderful Orpingtons ; Fishel with his massive, snow-white, non-sitting 
Plymouth Rocks; Lester Tompkins and Kaufman and Windheim with 
the Rhode Island Reds; Parks, the "bred to lay" Barred Rock man; 
Young's White Leghorns and Tecktonius with his superb Buff Leghorns 
are instances of what can be done in scientific mating. 

Let us consider the proper mating of certain varieties: 

Barred Rocks. The secret of mating this grand old variety for 
producing big birds and big layers is this: Breed to the female line, 
using light colored males, and always from two-year old hens. Select 
big, active hens that have large, red combs, and are broad between 
the legs; whose feathers, on each side of the comb "stand out" instead 
of lying smooth; the singers, eaters, scratchers; the first off the roost 
in the morning; the last on at night. Select those that lay best the 
second winter, rather than those that have laid themselves out in their 
pullet year. In other words, breed from those that are on the up grade 
instead of down. Do not use a male that is too heavy, nor one that 
bullies the hens. And be sure that his dam was a good layer. When 
the breeding season is near give muscle making, strength building 
food. You want abounding vitality, rather than quantity, in the eggs 
laid for hatching. 

In order that the fertility may be good the male should be a well 
developed cockerel or a lusty yearling. Old males are not good 
breeders. These rules are general and apply to all breeds and varieties. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 77 

By breeding to the female line you will get good pullets both for utility 
and exhibition. You may use your very best hens for breeding — the 
skill required being in the selection of the male. He should be lighter 
than the hens but be careful that he is not a '"washed-out" open-barred 
bird. The barring should be sharp, regular, with as strong barring 
on the flights as is possible to get in a pullet-bred male. He should 
be a rangy bird, standing well up on well spread legs, with a four — 
or at most a five point comb. Don't use a "logy" bird, and for that 
reason be very careful in selecting one that is over weight, for such 
birds are liable to be sluggards. See that he has a good red or bay 
eye and be sure that he comes from a good laying strain. 

Leghorns. In no breed is vitality so quickly depleted as in the 
Single Comb White Leghorns. Bred primarily for eggs, pushed to 
the limit, then cast aside after the first year, it is only natural that some 
played out stock should get into the breeding pen. When this happens 
the result is disastrous. The chicks are weak, "leggy," with thin, 
"crow" heads, long, drooping wings and pinched breasts. Utterly 
lacking in stamina, their growth is slow and they fall easy victims to 
the dreaded white diarrhoea. 

In breeding White Leghorns observe one cast-iron rule: Breed only 
from two year old hens, from strong, alert birds that were not forced 
to unusual laying in their pullet year. 

The foolish craze for extra low tails has caused some breeders to 
throw White Minorca blood into their Leghorns, with the resulting 
pale legs and flat backs. It is bad practice. Remember, the Standard 
calls for a tail only five degrees lower in the Minorca than in the 
Leghorn. And a judge who knows his business will penalize a Leghorn 
with too low a tail as surely as if it be too high. 

Breed from erect, bold, upstanding birds. And get your breeders 
as tame as possible. 



78 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 

The buff color in all varieties is a difficult proposition. Buff is 
a "made" color — a combination of red, white and black. To blend 
them into that "rich, golden buff," required by the Standard, demands 
skill and experience. White is the hardest to combat. There is only- 
one way, if you do your own mating, and that is to spend a season 
in making test hatches. The work is so intricate, so difficult that I 
advise the beginner to purchase either tested birds from a reliable 
breeder, or else secure eggs from such birds 

Rhode Island Reds breed very true to type, and very untrue to 
color. The "secret" of securing good color in these birds varies with 
the different breeders. Each has his own. But the following general 
rules are necessary in all cases : The Standard calls for red undercolor 
throughout in both sexes. But if your birds are sound in hackle, wings 
and tail, and if the male and female are reasonably matched in surface 
color you need not fear a little smut in the undercolor of the female. 
Indeed, it will be an advantage if the male is a clear, bright red, as 
it will prevent the chicks from running into buffs. 

In mating Reds it is best to use a male that is under exhibition 
weight. Otherwise you are likely to get stilty, "gamey" cockerels. 

Houdans are not as popular in America as their merits deserve. 
They are good layers of large eggs, non-sitters and excellent table 
fowls. 

In breeding this variety regularity of plumage should be carefully 
considered. Too often this is overlooked. The Standard requires that 
the surface plumage in each sex should be glossy black, and that about 
one feather in five be tipped with white. This proposition should be 
carried out regularly. To secure it breed from evenly marked speci- 
mens. I have got the best results from males that were somewhat 
lighter than the females, though this does not follow in all cases. It 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 79 

would appear, therefore, that each breeder should find out for himself 
the best method with his own individual flock and mate accordingly. 

SECRETS OF SELECTING LAYERS. 

It is a trite but true saying that the hen that lays is the hen that 
pays. Among the very best "bred to lay" pullets there will be some 
that will never pay for their keep. Such birds should be marketed 
along with the culls. But the trouble has been to distinguish the 
prospective layers from the loafers. It will be found to be not especi- 
ally difficult when the secret is known. And here is the secret: 

Three things require especial consideration when selecting future 
layers. Observe them in order: 

First — General appearance. 

Second — Shape. 

Third — Conduct. 

Appearance. The pullet that will lay well always looks well. Her 
comb is bright red, eyes are brilliant, feathers glossy. As noted, the 
feathers on each side of the comb stand out like brushes. This has 
proven to be a sure indication. The "why and wherefore" has never 
been clearly explained, but results have been noted. 

Shape. A wide and deep abdomen, a long and broad back, well 
spread tail, a full, red comb, bright eyes, broad, full breast, a duck-like 
walk — all these indicate the layer. 

Conduct. The pullet that will lay well always eats well. She is 
scratching from dawn to dusk— the first to get busy in the morning, 



80 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 

the last to quit at night. She never loafs time waiting for food; she 
gets out and hustles for it. Don't be afraid of fat. The lean, scrawny 
pullet never makes a layer. 

Breeders and Winners. In theory, the bird that "wins the blue" 
should be the best for the breeding pen; but this does not always 
follow. A first prize pen of Barred Rocks, for instance, would make 
very sorry breeders. And in several other varieties the "show" male 
is usually unsuited for breeding. Of course there are exceptions. The 
Grand Championship Pens of Lester Tompkins, from which he sold 
all the eggs he could spare, at $4 each, were also wonderful breeding 
pens. 

One point should always be kept in mind. No unknown bird 
should ever go into a breeding pen. This means that you should know 
the strain from which the bird comes. And a "strain" is not "origi- 
nated" by purchasing birds from other breeders, nor in a 3 by 6 coop. 

THE SECRET OF FERTILE EGGS. 

Nothing annoys a buyer more than to find a lot of infertile eggs 
among those purchased. And surely nothing annoys a breeder more 
than to find that eggs — possibly from his choicest pen — are running 
infertile. 

How can this be remedied? 
What is the secret of fertile eggs? 
I shall tell you. 

But before doing so it will be well to tell the beginner once again 
the difference between an egg that is fertile and one that is not. 

What did you say? "If it rots it is infertile." Did you say that? 
Yes? Well, you are wrong. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 81 

An infertile egg will not rot during the period of incubation. 

Therefore, 

If ?n egg rots while incubating you may be sure that it was fertile. 

I have told this fact again and again. I repeat it now that it may 
not be forgotten while considering this subject. 

Fertile eggs! 

Don't expect them by following any of the alleged "sytems." 
Merely alternating males will not do. Yet this has been sold as a great 
"secret." Breeding old males to pullets or cockerels to hens will not, 
of itself, produce the results. No "system" of feeding will do it. 

We may as well admit at the outset that the hundred per cent, 
fertility seen in wild fowl is very uncommon among domestic birds. 
But to get the highest fertility possible we should follow nature so far 
as we can. To that end we should separate the sexes until the breed- 
ing season is on. We should use only mature birds for breeding. The 
age of maturity varies with the Dreed and care. The Mediterraneans, 
of course, mature earlier than the Asiatics; and well fed birds that 
have been kept growing every minute with high grade food, like the 
Park and Pollard Chick Grain and Growing Food, will mature quicker 
and produce far more fertile eggs than those that have been left to 
hustle for themselves — fed poor or improper food and in limited 
quantities. 

Generally no male should be used for breeding before he is a year 
old. And hens are always better than pullets. 

Watch the male. 

If he gives attention solely to one or two of his mates you should 
either alternate him with another or remove his favorites. The 
former plan is best. 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 83 

See that the breeders have plenty of green stuff, and get them out 
of doors whenever you can. 

Make them exercise. You will get no fertile eggs from drones. 

EGGS IN WINTER. 

The secret of getting eggs in winter depends upon three things: 
The right strain, the right hatching, the right care. 

Winter laying is unnatural. Hens must be bred to it. This is not 
as difficult as it seems. The Leghorn is not considered the best of 
winter layers. Yet a pen of four exhibition Buffs, bred by F. A. 
Tecktonius, of Racine, Wis., laid in our test pen as high as 22 eggs in 
seven days in February. Since Leghorns can be bred to such winter 
laying, the heavier varieties may surely do as well or better. 

How is it done? Well, here is the secret: Hatch your birds so 
that the pullets may begin laying late in the autumn. As chicks keep 
them growing every minute. Stuff them daily. Don't let them begin 
laying too early! 

I have made the last rule emphatic. A pullet that begins laying 
too early is apt to "soldier" in December and January when eggs are 
highest in price. 

Keep the pullets busy. Don't allow any old hens nor males to 
hector them. Feed them to the limit with the right kind of food — and 
you will get the eggs. 

BREEDING EXHIBITION BIRDS. 

Like produces like — as a rule; but there are exceptions. One 
exception, as noted, is that of the Barred Plymouth Rocks, when shown 
in mated pens. Such a pen would not breed winners. You must double 



84 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 

mate these birds using one pen to produce exhibition males and 
another to produce exhibition females. And at that you will be lucky 
if you get one really high grade show bird out of a hundred chicks. 
Indeed, this follows true with most breeds. And that is the reason 
why high grade exhibition birds command such big prices. 

The secret of getting exhibition birds of any variety is to mate 
your birds so that one sex may compliment the other — meaning thereby 
that the male must supply any shortcoming in the female, and vice 
versa. The subject is too extensive to be treated fully in a single 
chapter, It is thoroughly covered in my book "Show Room Secrets," 
to which the reader is referred, if interested in this branch of the 
poultry industry. 

DYING IN THE SHELL. 

It is most discouraging to find that a number of well developed 
chicks, almost ready to hatch, have "died in the shell." Low vitality 
may account for this in some cases; but usually the chicks die for 
want of breath— smothered in the shell. 

Lack of oxygen! 

There you have it. 

Par more incubator chicks die from this cause than are lost under 
hens. 

The secret of prevention is to supply more oxygen. 

I have saved many chicks that were leady to pip by dipping the 
eggs in hot water for a moment then removing them quickly so that 
the air might work in through the opened pores of the shell. A better 
way, especially with incubator eggs, is to use the Oxy-Vitalizer, 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 85 

invented by Dr. Merkley of Buffalo. This is an inexpensive attach- 
ment which may be applied to any incubator, and which greatly 
increases both the number and vitality of chicks hatched. 

EGG EATING. 

This is a vicious habit. An egg eating hen will demoralize a 
whole flock, for the trick is easily learned. 

Various "cures" have been suggested. Paring down the offenders 
beak; filling an egg shell with nauseous compound; leaving china eggs 
about; any of these methods may prove effective. And they may not. 
Prevention is better than cure. Provide nests that are so high in front 
that eggs cannot roll out. Place a number of china eggs in the nest. 
Use trap nests and have them quite dark. Furnish plenty of oyster 
shells, beef scraps, bone and green food. Gather the eggs often, and 
feed scratch grain in the litter at short intervals. Keep the hens 
busy and they wont have time to learn bad habits. 

HOW TO GET MORE PULLETS. 

An excess of pullets is desirable, and for unknown ages men have 
sought to find a way to obtain them. There have been "ways" without 
number. The shape of the egg; the time of the moon; the sizes of the 
fowls all were sure to work — until tried. 

After a careful series of tests it has been demonstrated to the 
satisfaction of many people that mating a reliable cock that will be 
two years old late in the following spring, to very large and active 
females that are at least one year old, and by allowing from twenty- 
five to forty of such females to one such male the offspring will be 
pullets by a good majority. 



CHAPTER XV 
THE TOWNSEND TESTS 

For a number of seasons I have been conducting a series of im- 
portant tests in the interests of the poultry industry 

Unlike all other tests at home or abroad there are no ulterior 
motives in these. They are not conducted to advertise a newspaper 
nor a college. No admission fee is charged. Breeders who enter 
their good birds — and only birds of quality are accepted — such breed- 
ers receive, as they deserve, the full benefits of the publicity achieved. 
These tests are not confined to laying as are others. They cover a 
multitude of interesting and valuable questions — laying, hatching, 
vitality, fertility, diseases, feeding, growth, housing, appliances and 
so on and on. 

These tests are absolutely inpartial. If the birds entered by famous 
breeders make big showings — as have those of U. R. Fishel, the late 
Robert C. Tuttle, Lester Tompkins, Wm. Cook and Sons, F. A. Teck- 
tonius and others of their class — it is their good fortune. If a new 
breed, unknown and unheralded, wins first honors as did a pen iof 
Partridge Plymouth Rocks entered by S. A. Noftzger, well and good. 
Known or unknown, big or little; all are free to enter; and there is 
no charge for so doing. 

These tests are practical. Facts are sought, not fancies; results, 
not theories. And the results thus far have been satisfactory in every 
way. 

Among the facts established are these: That little chicks do not 
require feeding five or six times a day. We fed once a day, and the 



POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 87 

chicks thrived exceedingly. That dropping boards are needless and 
unsanitary. We have done away with them entirely. That if given the 
same chance a good, healthy Leghorn will eat as much as a Rock — 
with this difference: that the Leghorn wastes surplus food in needless 
exercise, while the Rock wastes it in needless fat. That the claims 
made of a whole family of six living off the product of half a dozen 
hens — of tens of thousands cleared yearly from half an acre — of pullets 
laying at three months — or "flocks" averaging "258 eggs yearly per 
hen" — of baby chicks thriving out of doors in fireless brooders during 
zero weather — that such claims were absolutely false. That there is 
no "best" variety, although some are better than others. That laying 
is .more a matter of breeding and feeding than of breed. That sex 
can be influenced to a considerable degree. That chicks die in the 
shell chiefly for lack of oxygen; and many more equally valuable and 
interesting. 

These tests will be continued for an indefinite period, for there 
are multitudes of facts yet to be established. 

Therefore I shall be pleased to hear from breeders at any time. 
If you have a popular variety that you want tested; or an old variety 
that has been neglected; or a new variety that is fighting for recogni- 
tion — let me hear from you, and I will help you so far as I can, and 
without any cost to you. The same offer applies to anything new in 
the way of appliances or products. 

Meanwhile you are cordially invited to visit me whenever possible. 
My testing plant is open for inspection every day. If you are an old 
breeder you are surely welcome. If you are a beginner you are doubly 
welcome. I thank you one and all, and hope to see as many of you 
as possible whenever it is possible for you to come. 



FEB 5 1912 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



KtB 5 



1912 



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